Kingston, Jamaica – A neighbour of Constable Noel Maitland testified on Tuesday that he didn’t delete any footage from a closed-circuit tv (CCTV) system on the Chelsea Manor condo complicated in St Andrew, the place Maitland’s 24-year-old girlfriend, Donna-Lee Donaldson, was final seen alive in July 2022.
The neighbour, who’s the sixth witness within the ongoing homicide trial on the House Circuit Courtroom in downtown Kingston, was questioned in regards to the potential lack of key surveillance footage as a part of the prosecution’s case in opposition to Maitland. The police constable is charged with homicide and stopping the lawful burial of a corpse following Donaldson’s disappearance.
Prosecutors allege that Donaldson was killed someday between July 12 and 13, 2022, inside Maitland’s condo. They cite circumstantial proof, together with blood discovered on curtains, and argue that her physique was unlawfully disposed of afterward. CCTV footage reportedly reveals Donaldson arriving on the complicated, however there isn’t any video proof of her departure.
On Monday, the neighbour acknowledged that the CCTV system solely retains footage for 5 days earlier than it’s mechanically overwritten. He claimed ignorance of this element, stating he solely turned conscious of the limitation when investigators from the Impartial Fee of Investigations (INDECOM) got here to examine the system.
Throughout cross-examination by Maitland’s legal professional, Christopher Townsend, the neighbour firmly denied having erased the footage or taking any motion that might have led to its deletion.
“No, I didn’t erase the footage,” he mentioned. When requested if he did something that may have induced the footage to be misplaced, he replied once more, “No, I didn’t.”
Prosecutor Claudette Thompson, throughout re-examination, probed whether or not the witness had verified if the cameras have been recording correctly. The neighbour admitted that whereas he had checked if the cameras have been functioning visually, he didn’t know the best way to affirm if the recording function was operational.
Additional, he testified that Maitland had requested to view the footage and expressed concern about somebody going lacking, reportedly pressuring him a number of instances to delete it. When requested why he didn’t notify the authorities, the neighbour defined that he had no data on the time of a lacking particular person and had not noticed something suspicious within the footage that might have prompted a report.
“At that time, I had not seen something on-line, so I didn’t have that context,” he mentioned, including that it was solely after his mom referred to as and he learn on-line experiences that he started to suspect one thing was mistaken.
The trial is scheduled to proceed as we speak.
