Car wash worker testifies of cleaning 'a lot of blood' from Maitland's sofa

A worker from the Kingston car wash where Constable Noel Maitland allegedly took his sofa to be cleaned, said she was frightened by the amount of blood she saw coming from the furniture.

"I saw a lot of blood, blood like rice grain," the witness testified via video link in the Home Circuit Court where Maitland is on trial for the July 2022 murder and disappearance of his girlfriend Donna-Lee Donaldson.

The witness recalled exclaiming "Jesus!" when she first saw the blood coming out of the sofa.

"Dis yah man must dead or him bleed out. Look like dem kill sommady inna it," she continued.

According to the witness she knew it was blood because of the raw scent that was emanating from the sofa.

She also testified that the blood was coming from the right corner of the sofa.

The woman told the court that on the morning of July 13, 2022, a "brown man" in a grey car came to the car wash about 9 a.m. and spoke to her and returned with a sofa in a blue and white truck.

According to her, the sofa was removed from the truck and placed where the cars were being washed.

She said she then went for a degreaser and bleach to wash the sofa but was told by the "brown man" not to use any bleach.

The witness told the court that she could remember the man if she saw him today, but after looking around the courtroom said she did not see him present.

Continuing her evidence, she said she washed the sofa with a power washer and that she had observed a dark spot about the size of a June plum prior to washing.

The car wash worker said the company had a mobile unit which offered the service of cleaning mattresses and furniture.

Maitland is on trial in the Home Circuit Court on the charges of murder and preventing the legal burial of a corpse in connection with the disappearance of Donaldson.

Donaldson, 24, a social media personality, swimwear entrepreneur, and customer service representative, was reported missing on July 13, 2022.

Her mother, Sophia Lugg, had previously testified that Maitland picked up her daughter on July 11 and that she last spoke to her on the morning of July 12.

Attempts to reach her afterwards were unsuccessful.

- Tanesha Mundle

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