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The prosecution's sixth witness in the murder trial of Constable Noel Maitland on Monday rejected claims that his testimony was motivated by a lack of neighbourly relations with the accused.
Last week the witness testified that he felt pressure by Mr. Maitland to delete footage from his security camera system.
Lead Defence Attorney Christopher Townsend on Monday suggested to the witness that he never had a neighbourly relationship with his client and that was the reason for testifying that Mr. Maitland insisted he erased the footage on his camera system.
The witness disagreed, stating that he and Mr. Maitland had a perfectly cordial relationship.
Agreeing that he played salsa music and had a few get-togethers at his apartment, the witness dismissed the attorney's suggestion that he had never invited Mr. Maitland to one of these gatherings, though the Constable never attended.
Mr. Townsend contended that Mr. Maitland did not attend these events because there was no friendly rapport between the two. But the witness disagreed.
Mr. Townsend referenced a specific occasion, claiming Mr. Maitland played Buju Banton's song 'Boom Bye Bye' repeatedly, and that the witness went up to his client's apartment and told him to turn it off.
The witness again disagreed.
The witness further denied that he and Mr. Maitland were not on friendly terms, or that he had never told anyone he disliked the cop because of his behaviour comments.
He also rejected the suggestion that Mr. Maitland once passed him in front of his apartment and said, "Too much fish deh inna the place."
Last week, the witness testified that Mr. Maitland contacted him on July 13, 2022, and then appeared at his apartment the following day, saying that a girl who had been at his apartment had gone missing.
In court on Monday, the neighbour said Mr. Maitland called him on July 16 asking, "What's the plan?" In response, he said he told Mr. Maitland, "I'm feeling very uncomfortable about the situation," and that he was unlikely to be home.
The court has told that Mr. Maitland's inquiry about the plan came after his neighbour had received several missed calls from him, some of which he had deliberately not answered.
The neighbour, when asked why he had purposely missed the calls, said "I was hesitant to speak, and at that point I was now familiar with the situation."
In response to the prosecutor's question as to how he became "familiar with the situation", the neighbour said through the news media.
Mr. Maitland is on trial in the Home Circuit Court for murder and preventing the legal burial of a corpse in connection with the July 13, 2022 disappearance of his girlfriend, Donna-Lee Donaldson.
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