Missing witness leads to trial delay

The murder trial of Constable Noel Maitland is scheduled to resume today in the Home Circuit Court, following an unexpected adjournment caused by the failure of witnesses to appear.

The primary witness, a second employee from the Kingston car wash where Maitland allegedly took a bloodstained sofa for cleaning, was slated to take the stand on Wednesday.

However, lead prosecutor, Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson, informed the court that the woman could not be located and failed to respond to multiple phone calls.

According to Thompson, the prosecution had not issued a subpoena to secure the witness’s release from her job, but officers were unable to find her at her place of employment yesterday evening, as she had been contracted for an official event.

Efforts to reach the witness were further hampered by ongoing network issues with the Digicel service.

In addition, the prosecutor disclosed that the next scheduled witness, who was expected to testify on Thursday, was also unreachable. Attempts to secure a third witness were similarly unsuccessful, after conversations between prosecutors and the police liaison officer ended abruptly due to persistent network issues.

The delay follows the completed testimony of another car wash employee who had testified that she observed what appeared to be blood seeping from a sofa brought in by Maitland on July 13, 2022.

She recalled seeing “blood like rice grain” and claimed it emitted a distinct, raw scent. However, under cross-examination by defence attorney Christopher Townsend, she admitted she had no formal way of confirming whether the substance was indeed blood.

The witness had also testified that she observed red flies swarming the area where she had washed the blood-like substance from the sofa.

The defence, under cross-examination, had raised the possibility that the raw scent and the flies were caused by food waste or sewage, noting that the car wash shared drainage with nearby restaurants and occasionally experienced sewage backups. The witness acknowledged the proximity of a restaurant known to serve fish, but firmly rejected suggestions that the substance she observed could have been anything other than blood.

The witness was also shown two photographs she had previously signed off on as being accurate depictions of photographs taken at the car wash in July 2022. However, upon closer examination in court, she admitted that the images were dated March 2, 2000.

During re-examination, Thompson asked if sewage was present on the day in question. The witness said no, maintaining that the scent and appearance of the liquid were unlike anything she had encountered before or since.

The trial centres on the disappearance and alleged murder of Maitland’s girlfriend, social media influencer Donna-Lee Donaldson, who was last seen on July 11, 2022, after Maitland reportedly picked her up from her home. She was reported missing two days later.

Maitland is accused of killing Donaldson and unlawfully disposing of her body, which has never been recovered. Two deliverymen have testified that Maitland arranged for the movement of the sofa – first from his Chelsea Manor apartment to the car wash, and then to an upholstery business in downtown Kingston.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com