The seven-member jury in the murder trial of Constable Noel Maitland on Monday heard that he gave a statement to a police investigator on July 15, 2022, in which he said he tried to end an intimate relationship with Donna-Lee Donaldson before she left his Chelsea Manor apartment in St Andrew for an unknown destination.

Maitland’s statement, which was read out in court by the investigator who said it was recorded, alleged that Donaldson, after feeling displeased about the outcome of a conversation with him about a photograph of his child’s mother in his apartment, told him that she was leaving.

Donaldson has not been seen since July 12, 2022. She is presumed dead, and prosecutors are banking on a string of circumstantial evidence to secure a conviction in the case being tried in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.

Maitland is on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse in relation to the disappearance of Donaldson, a social media influencer and entrepreneur who was 24 years old at the time.

She was last seen at the Chelsea Manor apartment complex.

In the statement, Maitland said that he and Donaldson had an on-and-off relationship since 2019. He also said that he was still intimately involved with the mother of his child, Kathanya Smith, who was a district constable.

“Donna-Lee Donaldson is my girlfriend. She is 24 years old. She lives with her mother and brother. I have known her since 2019. We had an on-and-off relationship. During the relationship I was also involved with Kathanya Smith. We share a child,” the police constable said in the statement.

“Donna-Lee was aware of this but continued the relationship. I drove my BMW to Donna-Lee’s house where I picked her up on July 11, 2022 and she spent the night at my house. She was wearing a black romper. She was wearing slippers but I can’t remember the colour. She also had a yellow handbag. We arrived at my house, we talked for a while before retiring to bed,” the statement read.

Maitland said in the statement that between 8:00 am and 9:00 am on July 12, 2022, he prepared breakfast.

“Then, she saw a picture of Kathanya on the wall and she was not pleased with it. It’s not the first time she had seen it. She always told me to take it down. I told her that I could not take it down. I told her I could not shun her because she has a child for me and I could not leave her out of my life. She asked me if I was choosing Kathanya over her. I told her I could not continue the relationship because I could not shun her with a child,” the statement read.

The court heard that Maitland told the investigator that he and Donaldson continued to talk about the situation until he started to ignore her before he fell asleep. He said he was awakened by her some time in the afternoon and that she told him she was leaving, and she left. Maitland said he heard an ice cream vendor outside and went to get some ice cream.

“I went back to the apartment. About 7:30 pm the same evening, I tried calling her cellphone and got voicemail. I messaged her through
WhatsApp and got no response. She was still upset. That’s how she behaves when she is upset. The following day, Wednesday, July 13, 2022, I called her mother and her mother told me she had not heard from her. I called her brother and he said he was at work. I contacted a friend of hers and she said she had not heard from her for a while.”

Maitland said he also spoke to a neighbour who allegedly told him that she saw Donaldson “standing on the steps, but she never saw where she turned”.

After the police investigator finished reading the statement, a detective inspector took the stand. He said that in July 2022 he was placed in charge of the investigations into Donaldson’s disappearance.

The matter was adjourned until Thursday when the jury is expected to be shown a controversial settee believed to be crucial to the case.

Attorneys representing Maitland are King’s Counsel Larry Smith, Chadwick Berry, Christopher Townsend, Sanjay Smith and Kaysian Kennedy-Sherman.

MAITLAND… on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse