Investigator didn’t check into claims brother called victim after disappearance

A police officer who supervised the investigation into the disappearance of social media personality and entrepreneur Donna-Lee Donaldson has denied a suggestion that he was negligent or careless for not collecting records related to a telephone call from her brother the day after she was last seen alive.

The witness, a detective inspector, also testified that based on evidence collected by a police team, he came to the conclusion that Donaldson was not the person seen at a hotel in Portland two months after she was reported missing.

He was giving evidence in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston yesterday.

The detective inspector was the last of 36 witnesses called by prosecutors before they closed their case in the closely watched murder trial of Donaldson’s boyfriend, police Constable Noel Maitland.

Attorneys for the accused lawman have signalled that they will make submissions to presiding judge Leighton Pusey asking him to toss out the case on the grounds that prosecutors have not made out a prima facie case against the policeman.

The witness acknowledged, during cross-examination by one of Maitland’s attorneys, King’s Counsel Larry Smith, that he was aware of a report that Donaldson’s brother, Dwayne Whyte, telephoned her on July 13, 2022.

He admitted that he did not ask Whyte to make his phone available to investigators, setting off an exchange with Smith.

“As such, you made no checks into the time of that call?” Smith asked.

“No,” the witness replied, while acknowledging that verifying the time of the call was important information.

“Did you deliberately not collect this information?” the attorney pressed.

“No,” the witness replied.

“Would you say that you were negligent in not collecting this information?” Smith continued.

“No, sir,” the witness again replied.

“Then [name redacted] would you say it was careless of you not to verify that information from Mr Whyte?” the attorney questioned.

“No, sir,” the witness replied.

The investigator testified during re-examination by one of the three prosecutors in the case that a police team was dispatched to the Portland-located hotel in September 2022 following reports that Donaldson was seen there.

However, he said he concluded that it was not the popular social media influencer after viewing the contents of a flash drive collected by the police.

Donaldson was last seen alive on July 11, 2022 when Maitland reportedly picked her up from her mother’s home in St Andrew.

Her mother — one of several witnesses for the prosecution — testified that she last spoke to Donaldson the following morning.

A government forensic analyst testified last month that blood traces found on several items taken from Maitland’s apartment in New Kingston have been confirmed to match the DNA profile of the missing social media influencer.

The trial is expected to continue next month.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com