Prosecutors outline DNA, video evidence in Maitland murder case
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The prosecution in the murder case against Constable Noel Maitland said on Tuesday that DNA evidence along with CCTV footage provided strong circumstantial evidence that his missing 24-year-old girlfriend, Donna-Lee Donaldson, is dead.
Maitland, who was also charged with preventing the lawful burial of a corpse, arrived for a bail hearing at the Supreme Court in Kingston at 10:23 am in a neatly tailored dark blue suit and what appeared to be freshly trimmed hair.
However, a bail application made by Maitland’s attorney, Christopher Townsend, was strongly opposed by the prosecution.
“I hasten to add that the absence of her body does not prevent the prosecution from, based on the circumstances and the evidence, from asserting that Miss Donna-Lee Donaldson is dead,” the prosecutor told Judge Vinnet Graham Allen, as she outlined the Crown’s reason for opposing the application.
She told the judge that DNA evidence from “brown drops and stains from curtains at (Maitland’s) apartment,” which resembled blood, matched that from Donaldson’ toothbrush handed over by her mother, Sophia Lugg.
“Another observation… is that the CCTV cameras at the neighbour’s house, all five cameras, and those at the gate of the complex, while they show the accused man and Donaldson arriving at the complex, there is no footage, no recording of her leaving,” the prosecution told the court.
The court was also told that bloodstains were on a couch that was taken in a truck by Maitland and two other men to a car wash.
CCTV footage reportedly also showed that he carried the couch to downtown Kingston, where it was disposed of and never seen again.
Following a submission by the defence, which denied the allegations, the judge adjourned until October 13 for a ruling on the bail application.
Police report that on July 11, about 10:00 pm, Donaldson was picked up at her house by Maitland in a black BMW motor car to spend the night with him at an apartment located at Chelsea Manor.
She has not been seen or heard from since that time. Maitland was arrested and charged on July 27.