“Blood like rice grain!”

That’s how a witness in the murder trial of Constable Noel Maitland described the substance she saw seeping from a settee that was brought to a Kingston car wash in July 2022.

The settee in question belongs to the accused, Noel Maitland, who is charged with the murder of his then girlfriend, Donna-Lee Donaldson.

Maitland’s also charged with preventing the lawful burial of her body, which has never been recovered.

The witness, who’s testifying remotely from overseas, is the 10th witness in the high-profile case.

Robian Williams was in court.

The witness recounted the events of July 13, 2022.

She said a man she described as “brown-skinned, short and thick-bodied” visited the carwash where she worked on Lyndhurst Road in Kingston.

The witness was asked to look around the courtroom to identify the “brown man” she referred to.

But there was no positive identification because she said the camera was blurry.

She told the court that around 9am on July 13, 2022, the man drove into the compound and spoke briefly with her before leaving.

She said she saw the same man return later, around 1pm, with two other individuals and a blue-and-white truck carrying a brown three-piece settee.

The men placed the settee in the car wash bay, and she approached them to offer cleaning assistance.

While cleaning the right corner of the settee with degreaser, bleach, and a power wash gun, the witness said she observed what she described as “a lot of blood.”

“It red and it smelled raw,” she told the court, adding that the sight shocked her.

She recalled saying at the time, “Jesus, this yah one yah must dead or him bleed out. Look like them kill smaddy inah it.”

At this point the witness was seen on camera shaking her head.

The defence quickly objected to the witness’s claim, arguing it was speculative.

But the judge, Justice Leighton Pusey, allowed her observation to stand, noting it could be challenged during cross-examination.

The witness continued.

She stated that one of the individuals who came with the “brown man” came with a bottle of vinegar.

She said she told him to get two more bottles of vinegar.

The witness said after her initial wash, the man she identified as the “brown man” took over the cleaning.

She said, “Him start wash the settee himself. I see a lot of blood, blood like rice grain coming from the right corner of the settee.”

Whispers filled the courtroom as the witness described seeing “blood like rice grain” coming from the settee.

She described the area as having a strong smell and being swarmed by flies.

The settee remained at the complex until the following day, July 14, when she saw it still wet and surrounded by flies.

She told the court it has not been seen there since.

The witness also said police later visited the location, took photographs, and reviewed security camera footage as part of their investigation.

During her testimony, which included references to the presence of blood, the mother of the deceased, Donna-Lee Donaldson, broke down in tears and left the courtroom.

The matter has been adjourned until Tuesday, July 29, when the trial will resume.