Prosecutors insist evidence proves Maitland killed Donna-Lee Donaldson as case moves closer to jury

Prosecutors in Constable Noel Maitland’s trial claim they have proven he killed his girlfriend, social media influencer Donna-Lee Donaldson, in 2022.

“I believe we have done just what we set out to do,” said the lead prosecutor on Monday.

The prosecutor was presenting the State's closing arguments to the seven-member jury in the closely-watched murder trial in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.

At the start of the trial in May last year, prosecutors indicated that they would would rely on different pieces of circumstantial evidence “like a jigsaw” puzzle to present “one single picture” of what happened to Donaldson.

The prosecutor noted that over the course of the eight-month trial they have been trying to prove that Donna-Lee was murdered “at the behest or at the hands of Maitland” and that she has not been lawfully buried.

The prosecutor acknowledged, too, that there was no witness to testify that they saw Maitland commit the crime.

But the prosecutor insisted that State has proved its case.

Maitland is on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.

Donaldson, 24, was reported missing on July 13, 2022.

One witness, Donaldson’s mother, testified that she last saw her daughter alive on July 11, 2022, when Maitland picked her up from her home in St Andrew. She also said she spoke with Donaldson on the morning of July 12.

Maitland has denied the allegation and declared his innocence.

He told the court that he last saw Donaldson on July 12, before she left his home following an argument over the mother of his child.

- Livern Barrett

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