Court hears of missed calls, voicemails, and a mother’s growing panic

A visibly emotional Sophia Lugg on Monday tearfully recalled the frantic attempts she made to reach her daughter, missing social media personality Donna-Lee Donaldson, before she vanished after leaving home with her boyfriend, Constable Noel Maitland, on Monday, July 11, 2022.

Lugg testified in court that the last time she saw her daughter alive was that night when the 24-year-old got into Maitland’s black BMW outside their family home. The next morning, Donaldson called to ask her mother to feed her dog, China. That was the last conversation they had. All further calls to her phone went unanswered.

Donaldson, a popular influencer, swimwear entrepreneur, and customer service representative, was reported missing on July 13. She was last seen at Maitland’s apartment two days earlier.

The stoic-looking Maitland, dressed in a blue pantsuit and a blue-and-white plaid shirt, appeared composed as he sat in court before Justice Leighton Pusey and a seven-member jury – three women and four men. He is on trial for murder and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.

Lugg, dressed in black, told the court that she became increasingly worried on July 12 after failing to reach her daughter. She tried calling again after 4 p.m., but the phone rang with no answer.

The mother explained through tears that she was not feeling well at that time, and her daughter was the only one who would take her to the doctor.

She waited three hours, hoping that her daughter would return the call as she usually did.

“I tried calling back at 7 in the night, but the call went straight to voicemail,” she said.

The following day, July 13, Lugg said she continued calling but never heard from her daughter again.

When asked if she did anything else to locate Donna-Lee, Lugg said she didn’t need to because Maitland had called her on July 13.

“Mum, yuh hear from Donna-Lee?” she recalled Maitland saying.

But the woman said she replied, “What sort of question is that? Donna-Lee left from Monday night. Yuh normally bring har back. How dare yuh ask mi if I hear from her!” she recalled saying.

She said Maitland told her to calm down and mentioned that he and Donaldson had a minor dispute after which she allegedly left his apartment.

When Lugg asked whether her daughter left by taxi or if someone picked her up, Maitland claimed he didn’t know – he was too upset to notice.

Lugg reminded him there were cameras at his apartment and suggested he check the footage to see who had taken Donaldson.

According to her, the constable told her she was “right” and that he would make checks and call her back but added that he wasn’t at the apartment at the time.

Earlier in her testimony, Lugg shared that her daughter had recently celebrated her birthday and taken part in the carnival road march, just two days before she disappeared. She also testified that Donaldson and Maitland had been in a relationship for nearly three years, during which he often picked her up late at night – frequently after 11 p.m.

She said she had grown closer to Maitland earlier in 2022 after falling ill. He would regularly call to check in on her even while she was overseas.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

In her opening address, lead prosecutor Loriann Tugwell told the jury that the Crown’s case rested on circumstantial evidence that when considered together, pointed clearly to one conclusion: that Maitland killed Donna-Lee Donaldson between July 12 and 13 and unlawfully disposed of her body.

“It means when you look at all the evidence, it will point in one direction only – to the exclusion of all others,” Tugwell said.

She added that patterns of behaviour and DNA evidence left behind by Donaldson would be used to prove that she was killed.

The trial, which is expected to last eight to 10 weeks, will see testimony from 32 witnesses.

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson and Tugwell are prosecuting the case.

King’s Counsel Larry Smith, senior lawyers Christopher Townsend and Kaysian Kennedy-Sherman, along with Chadwick Berry, Sanjay Smith, are all representing Maitland.

Lugg will continue her testimony today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com