A car wash attendant has testified that the sofa belonging to Constable Noel Maitland, connected to the Donna-Lee Donaldson case, had a lot of blood. The witness told the Home Circuit Court that they were shocked and even questioned if someone was murdered while the furniture was being cleaned.
The sofa, according to the witness in the ongoing trial for the July 2022 murder and disappearance of Donaldson, arrived at the car wash on July 13, when a “brown man” initially showed up in a grey car around 9 a.m., spoke to her, and later returned with the sofa in a blue and white truck.
She recalled how the sofa was removed from the truck and placed in the area where cars are normally washed. She emphasised the amount of blood by describing it as “like rice grains.” She also said it was seeping from the right corner of the sofa and carried a raw scent that confirmed her suspicion.
In court, she admitted to exclaiming, “Jesus! This yah man must be dead or bleeding out. Looks like they killed somebody in it.” She said she had planned to use both degreaser and bleach to clean it but was instructed not to use bleach by the man who brought the sofa.
She continued using the power washer and observed a dark spot about the size of a June plum before she began cleaning. Though she didn’t identify the man in court, she confidently stated she would recognise him if she saw him again.
The car wash, according to the witness, also offered mobile services for cleaning items such as mattresses and furniture. This was one of the reasons she wasn’t initially suspicious until the extent of the blood became clear.
Maitland is the boyfriend of Donaldson, was a social media personality, and she had a swimwear business. After she went missing, he was charged with her murder. He faces an additional charge of preventing the legal burial of a corpse. His 24-year-old girlfriend was reported missing on July 13. During the trial, the court heard her mother testify that Maitland picked up Donaldson on July 11 and the mother last spoke to her on July 12.