CONSTABLE Noel Maitland on Tuesday tried to convince a seven-member jury that he did not kill his girlfriend Donna-Lee Donaldson, explaining that there was not a lot of blood found in his apartment, and the only way her blood could have reached there was from a miscarriage.

Instead of hearing from character witnesses who were expected to take the stand on Tuesday in the Home Circuit Court matter in downtown Kingston, the seven-member jury heard the police constable appeal profusely for them to believe him during his unsworn statement from the prisoner’s dock. Maitland accused the prosecution team, led by Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson, of failing to address the fact that the tiny spatter of blood could have been there three years or more prior to 2022. He said he sat and listened to the experts who explained that the blood could have been there a year prior.

Maitland is on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse in relation to the July 12, 2022 disappearance of Donaldson. Donaldson was last seen at the Chelsea Manor Apartments in St Andrew where Maitland lived.

“I did not kill Donna-Lee. Not a lot of blood was found at my house. The only way I can account for the tiny spatter of blood that the forensics saw at my house is that Donna-Lee had two miscarriages for me, one of which happened at my apartment and we had sex on that night when that happened. That is the only way that the tiny spatter of blood was found at my house. The forensics, through their extensive search [and] extensive testing on more than one day, said there was not a lot of blood found at my house,” Maitland said before he tried to establish the point that he was cooperative with detectives throughout the entire investigations and that he complied with their requests while others refused.

“I cooperated with the police officers 100 per cent. There was never a time when they asked me for something in my car or to come to my house and I resisted. That was the case throughout the entire process. I even assisted them with my babymother’s vehicle because she refused to give them the vehicle. I assisted them to get that vehicle,” he said.

Maitland expressed that he could not understand why a couch that was taken from his apartment was even made a central focus any at all in the case. According to him, all he did was to have the couch removed for cleaning at a carwash, which was something he had already planned to do, months prior. He insisted that no blood was in his couch as was the claim of a former carwash employee, who testified that while she was washing the furniture, she saw “blood like rice grain”.

“This lady is a liar because she said that no garbage bin was where my couch was cleaning and three big blue garbage bins were there right beside where my couch was cleaning. I don’t even know why my couch is involved in the case because no blood was in my couch. My couch left from my apartment, went into a truck, and it went straight to a carwash. Not a lot of blood was found at my house. A big rug is in the living room of my apartment and no blood was found there.“

He continued: “I had planned months before to clean my couch. If blood was in my couch, blood would have been taken from it. No blood was taken from the truck. It was extensively searched. My couch was brought to a place where surveillance cameras were, multiple business places were. A restaurant was there, a bar was there, a carwash was there, and a mechanic shop was there and this lady was the only person to say that she saw blood running from my couch like rice grain. I don’t even know why my couch is even caught up in this case. The police officers know where my couch is. There was no blood in my couch,” he insisted.

Maitland thanked God that the truck driver who brought the truck from his apartment to the carwash recorded cell phone conversations between both of them without his knowledge, as he said it showed that he did not say anything out of the way. The truck driver recorded the conversations with Maitland after the police confiscated his truck for processing as part of the murder case.

“As it relates to the truck man I had the conversation with, I have nothing to hide. Thanks be to God that he recorded me without my knowledge. I did say to the man to allow the police to do their investigation. I did tell the man that as soon as the police finished their investigation, he would get back his truck. He did get back his truck. I have nothing to hide. The fact is that I was recorded and I didn’t even know that I was recorded.

“As I said before, I have cooperated with the police 100 per cent. The prosecution team has established my good character,” he said.

As it relates to a neighbour who gave testimony in the case, claiming that Maitland wanted him to delete footage captured by his close-circuit television cameras mounted in the complex, the constable said that both of them did not see eye to eye.

“He does not like me. I am not in support of his lifestyle,” Maitland said, hinting that he had reasons that suggested the neighbour was hhomosexual.

“I was surprised that he came here and gave testimony that I told him to delete footage from his surveillance camera. He said he sat there and he watched the surveillance cameras and nothing unscrupulous was on it. He knows I did not support his lifestyle. I played my music out loud several times, the Buju Banton song Boom, bye, bye. Anytime he starts to make a lot of noise I play it in my apartment.”

The trial is expected to continue today when Maitland’s character witnesses will take the stand on his behalf.