Despite having just four more witnesses remaining to take the stand in the Home Circuit Court trial of Constable Noel Maitland in downtown Kingston, the case hit a snag on Thursday, as the prosecution indicated that there were some important administrative matters to attend to.

The trial, which has been running over the past eight months, was put off until Monday.

After the prosecution and the defence completed their examination in chief and cross examination of a deputy superintendent of police assigned to the Communications Forensic and Cybercrime Division (CFCD), the way was cleared for one of the four remaining witnesses to take the stand.

The witness, who was on time for court and waiting to give evidence, was asked instead to get herself ready for Monday as prosecutors needed some time to sort out important matters.

Maitland is on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse in relation to the July 12, 2022 disappearance of his social media influencer girlfriend Donna-Lee Donaldson.

Donaldson was 24 years-old when she went missing. Prosecutors are seeking to use circumstantial evidence to secure the conviction of Maitland, whose apartment complex was the last place Donaldson was seen.

Among the evidence being relied on by the prosecution is blood that was said to belong to Donaldson that was found in Maitland’s Chelsea Manor apartment in St Andrew.

Following Donaldson’s disappearance, there was also a string of phone calls placed by Maitland to a truck driver who removed a couch from his apartment and took it to a carwash on Lyndhurst Road in St Andrew to be power washed. There were also calls between Maitland and his child’s mother as well as others, based on what came out in the testimony of the DSP.

The seven-member jury in the case heard on Wednesday that, based on cell site information obtained for a phone number attributed to Maitland, he appeared to have moved around a lot on the immediate days following Donaldson’s disappearance.

The DSP from CFCD said that on July 13, which was the day after Donaldson went missing, a phone number attributed to Maitland made a call at 9:49 am and that call was facilitated by the Lyndhurst Road cell site in St Andrew, which is the same area the carwash Maitland took the couch to was located.

A former employee testified previously that while she was washing the settee which Maitland brought to the carwash, she noticed a lot of red substance running from the couch which she said resembled blood. Based on that observation and what she said were flies swarming the couch, she was of the opinion that someone had died and bled out on the couch.

The DSP said on Wednesday, that at 12:30 pm on July 13, that same number attributed to Maitland used the Princeville Plaza cell site, also in St Andrew, to communicate on the network.

By 1:08 pm, the number was back within range of the Lyndhurst Road cell site. At 2:14 pm the number was still using the Lyndhurst Road cell site, the court heard.

During previous testimonies over the eight months period that the trial has been going on, the seven-member jury heard that Maitland went to a hardware store on Constant Spring Road, in St Andrew where he found the truck driver who brought the settee to the carwash on Lyndhurst Road.

On July 14, 2022, Maitland’s number was picked up by the Dunrobin Avenue cell site in St Andrew. At 3:49 pm the number was using the Lyndhurst Road cell site. At 3:55 pm the number was using a cell site on East Avenue, near downtown Kingston, and at 4:06 pm, the number pinged on the West Parade cell site in downtown Kingston.

At one point the number was picked up on the Tivoli Gardens cell site. His attorney, Chadwick Berry, explained to the court that the Tivoli Gardens cell site covers areas outside of that west Kingston community, pointing out that it shouldn’t be taken to mean that Maitland was inside Tivoli Gardens when he communicated on his phone.

— Jason Cross