Witness says footage from key dates was autodeleted

A neighbour of Constable Noel Maitland admitted on Monday that surveillance footage he was asked to preserve had already been automatically erased by the time he handed over the system to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM).

Testifying in the Home Circuit Court, the neighbour – who had earlier claimed Maitland pressured him to delete the footage – revealed under cross-examination that he later learnt that the camera system only stored footage for five days. He also stated he had not seen anything incriminating in the recordings.

Maitland is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Donna-Lee Donaldson, and for preventing her lawful burial after she was reported missing on July 13, 2022.

The witness, who had installed five surveillance cameras at the St Andrew apartment complex where both he and Maitland lived, said he and Maitland reviewed footage showing the constable entering the complex twice. In one instance, which appeared to be night-time, he was seen arriving with a woman, and in the afternoon of July 12, he was seen arriving alone.

He testified that Maitland first contacted him on July 13 about the footage and visited the next day, saying a woman who had been at his apartment was missing and asking to view the recordings. The neighbour said Maitland repeatedly asked him to delete the footage, which he refused, and later bombarded him with calls asking whether the footage had been saved and what he would do if the police came.

However, under cross-examination by defence attorney Christopher Townsend, the neighbour admitted he only discovered the footage-retention limit when he handed over the camera system to INDECOM on July 21.

“By the 21st there was no footage to be had?” Townsend asked.

“I would not have been sure,” the witness replied, though he acknowledged that more than five days had passed, meaning the footage was likely gone.

He also admitted he had not seen Maitland’s face in the footage, but assumed it was him based on the vehicle captured.

He was also questioned about the camera at the security post, and disclosed that, as chairman of the strata, he had access to security records, including footage from the gate camera and the guards’ logbook. He said the complex had three guards working in shifts and maintained a log, though entries were inconsistent. He admitted he did not check the logbook, but claimed he had another “method” of tracking who entered and exited.

He denied suggestions that he had installed the cameras in response to a prior incident involving a girl allegedly being tied up at the complex, and rejected claims that strangers regularly wandered the property and knocked on doors.

DENIED STRAINED RELATIONSHIP

The witness also pushed back on suggestions that he had a strained relationship with Maitland or had been offended by alleged homophobic comments. He denied hearing Maitland say, “Too much fish inna da place yah”, or that he confronted him about playing Boom Bye Bye loudly.

“That certainly didn’t happen,” the witness said, insisting they had a “perfectly cordial, neighbourly relationship throughout the years”.

He also testified that he did not personally know Donaldson, but may have seen her around the complex. He denied ever speaking with her or seeing her at Maitland’s apartment watering plants, countering claims that they had interacted multiple times.

Donaldson, 24, was a social media personality and swimwear entrepreneur. Her mother testified that Maitland picked her up on July 11 and that she last heard from her on the morning of July 12.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com