'I will never kill Donna-Lee,' says cop on trial for girlfriend's murder
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Constable Noel Maitland has told a jury that he would “never” have killed his girlfriend, Donna-Lee Donaldson, the social media influencer who went missing in July 2022.
“I don’t have any thoughts of hurting Donna-Lee. And I will never, ever, kill Donna-Lee,” Maitland said in a rushed unsworn statement before the seven-member jury inside the Home Circuit Court in Kingston on Tuesday.
Maitland is on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.
The policeman told the court that he and Donaldson had multiple arguments during their three-year relationship, mostly over the mother of his child. He said he would often ignore her during the arguments.
“We have argued about this many times. It has not been physical. It has never, ever been physical,” he said. He added that their final dispute was triggered by repeated calls from the mother of his child and by a photograph of a woman hanging on the wall.
According to Maitland, after that last argument on July 12, 2022, he went to sleep and was later woken by Donaldson, who told him she was leaving. “She woke me up, and she left… the Tuesday. I haven't seen Donna-Lee from that day…,” he said.
During his unsworn statement, Maitland also insisted that he had fully cooperated with police.
An unsworn statement is a formal declaration by a defendant that provides their version of events without taking an oath or affirmation and is not subject to cross-examination.
Donaldson, 24, an entrepreneur, 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.
The trial began in May 2025.
- Tanesha Mundle
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