PROSECUTORS turned up at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Thursday morning ready to present closing arguments in the murder trial of police constable Noel Maitland but were stopped in their tracks as they were told that two members of the seven-member jury had called in sick.

Maitland is on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse in relation to the July 12, 2022 disappearance of his 24-year-old girlfriend Donna-Lee Donaldson, who was last seen at the Chelsea Manor apartment complex in St Andrew where he lived.

The trial is expected to resume on Monday with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Claudette Thompson and her team raring to deliver their final arguments, followed by the closing arguments from the defence. Then trial Judge Leighton Pusey will deliver his summation.

During an unsworn statement from the prisoner dock on Tuesday, Maitland insisted that he did not kill Donaldson, pointing out that he had cooperated at all times with the police during their investigation while others refused to give statements.

He acknowledged that blood was found on curtain drapes in his apartment came from Donaldson but claimed that it got there because she had a miscarriage in his apartment. He also said that the prosecution’s team failed to establish the point that the “tiny spatter of blood” could have been there for two years or longer.

On Wednesday, a police inspector who was Maitland’s supervisor gave character evidence on his behalf.

The inspector told the court that Maitland was hard-working, reliable, and was usually the centre of attention because of his personality.

According to the inspector, the constable at no point appeared to be someone who would commit murder. The inspector told the court that he and Maitland socialised sometimes over drinks after work in a section of the Constant Spring Police Station where food and drinks are sold, but admitted the he did not hang out with the constable outside of that setting or outside of work.

On Tuesday, Maitland appealed to the seven members of the jury, trying to get them to believe that he would never hurt, much more kill Donaldson.

Maitland also questioned why a couch that was taken from his apartment had become the central focus of the case.

The police constable claimed that all he did was have the couch washed, which was an activity he had already planned to do, months prior.

He pointed out that no blood was found in his couch and described a former employee of the car wash on Lyndhurst Road in St Andrew where the furniture was power- washed as a liar.

DONALDSON… has not been seen since July 12, 2022