In a shocking turn of events, defense attorneys representing Noel Maitland in the Donna Lee Donaldson murder case aborted his bail application hearing on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
The defense had scheduled a bail application hearing in the Home Circuit Court on Wednesday morning. Still, when the matter came before the Court, the Crown advised the Judge that Maitland’s defense team informed it via a letter that they no longer wished to proceed with the bail application.
Maitland has been in custody since July 27, 2023. The Court remanded him until January 17, 2024, when he is expected to enter a plea.
The authorities charged the police constable with murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.
Twenty-four-year-old social media influencer Donna Lee Donaldson’s family reported her missing on July 13, after she was last seen at Maitland’s home two days earlier.
The prosecution in the matter disclosed that forensic analysis has established that bloodstains the police reportedly found on curtains and a pair of sneakers inside Maitland’s Chelsea Manor apartment in St Andrew were from the missing woman.
The Court also heard the allegation that on July 13, the constable took a sofa to a car wash to get cleaned, claiming his cousin had injured himself and had messed up the furniture.
According to an attendant who assisted Maitland, the couch had alarming volumes of blood.
“A whole heap of blood coming out the right side … . Jesus, this man must be dead. Him bleed out or this come in like dem kill somebody inna this,” the attendant is alleged to have remarked.
Car wash attendant
Maitland supposedly engaged the services of a truck driver to move the couch and allegedly attempted to deceive his landlord into erasing the closed-circuit television recordings at his apartment.
Additionally, the prosecutor divulged that an analysis of cell site data indicated that Donaldson’s mobile phone was last registered on the network on July 12 near Maitland’s residence, with the defendant’s phone being present at the exact location.