DPP welcomes guilty verdict in Noel Maitland murder trial

 

 

 

Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson has welcomed the guilty verdict delivered against Police Constable Noel Maitland in the Home Circuit Court on Thursday.

 

Constable Maitland was found guilty of the murder of his girlfriend, Donna-Lee Donaldson - a 24-year-old social media personality and customer service representative, who was reported missing on July 13, 2022. He was also found guilty of preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.

 

He is to be sentenced on March 13.

 

Responding to the ruling, Ms. Thompson said it is not a time for rejoicing because it confirms Ms. Donaldson's death. Still, she is comforted that the jury returned the correct verdict. 

 

She said there were several challenges encountered by the prosecution during the course of the proceedings, which they succesfully overcame. 

 

"Before we empanelled the jury, we had to deal with the fact that some of our witnesses live overseas now, were not in a position to return to Jamaica for trial. We used the special measures law to secure their attendance virtually. And so the necessary applications had to be made and we had to wait for the orders to be made. That is where success came in. We were successful in getting the orders for these witnesses to appear virtually from overseas," she outlined. 

 

Ms. Thompson pointed to elements of circumstantial evidence which, she said, were thoroughly tested and ultimately withstood judicial scrutiny. 

 

"You had a situation where it is he (Maitland) who picked her up and took her from her home. So he was the last person seen with her. He took her to his house. The day after she went missing, he seemed to have been more concerned with the state of his couch than with joining in the search for her. He seemed terribly concerned with his neighbour's video footage. The couch disappeared. The iPhone that he had been using up to just before the day when he was arrested, has gone missing. We've not seen that again. And critically, the blood found in the apartment," the DPP pointed out. 

 

Meanwhile, when questioned about the possibility of an appeal by Mr. Maitland's legal team, the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated that she is not concerned, and assured that her office is prepared to address any such action. 

 

"Where it is a murder conviction, where the sentence for murder is life imprisonment, there's always the expectation that there will be an appeal, and I expect nothing less where this case is concerned. And all that we have to do is prepare. We prepare for trials. We prepare for appeals," she told Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines on Thursday.   

 

But while the prosecution is satisfied with the outcome of the trial, the same cannot be said for Noel Maitland's father, Noel Maitland Sr., who told Radio Jamaica News that the jury's guilty verdict was unexpected.

 

"I didn't expect them to find him guilty because I don't see the evidence to find him guilty. That's all," said the father, who suggested the ruling was injust.  

 

Mr. Maitland Sr. was speaking with reporter Kirk Wright at the Supreme Court on Thursday.