KINGSTON, Jamaica — Police Constable Noel Maitland has been sentenced to life imprisonment in relation to the July 2022 disappearance of his 24-year-old girlfriend Donna-Lee Donaldson.

The sentence was handed down in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Friday.

Maitland was condemned to life behind bars for murder and two years for preventing the lawful burial of a corpse. The sentences are to run concurrently, and he will have to serve 32 years and four months before he is eligible for parole.

Maitland was found guilty of both charges by a seven-member jury on January 22 this year, following an eight-month-long trial.

Donaldson was last seen at the Chelsea Manor Apartment complex in St Andrew, where Maitland lived.

A social media influencer, entrepreneur, and call centre employee, Donaldson had been dating Maitland at the time of her disappearance.

Her body has not been found.

Prior to the sentencing, Donaldson’s mother, Sophia Lugg, had told the Jamaica Observer that while his conviction had brought her some closure, she wanted the cop to confess where her daughter’s remains are and who else was involved in the crime.

“So they are just going to sentence him and send him away? They can’t do anything for him to tell me what happened to my child? Telling us what he did won’t bring her back, but that is a closure for us,” she said.

READ: Between grief and closure

To convict Maitland, prosecutors relied purely on circumstantial evidence, including Donaldson’s blood that was found on items inside his apartment.

Maitland’s attorney, Christopher Townsend, had told the Observer after his conviction that his client continued to maintain his innocence in the matter, hinting that an appeal was possible.