I’m hoping he gets 100 years - Donna-Lee Donaldson’s mom wants full sentence for Maitland

The mother of slain social media influencer Donna-Lee Donaldson says she is hoping the judge will consider the deep emotional agony of not knowing where her daughter's body is when former policeman Noel Maitland is sentenced this Friday.

Sophia Lugg told THE STAR that the approaching sentencing has reopened wounds she has struggled to carry since July 2022.

"It made me think back to when this all started. Remembering the days with Donna, the good and bad times then when it happened," Lugg said, her voice heavy with emotion.

Donaldson was reported missing on July 13, 2022 after she was last seen the previous night at Maitland's apartment. Investigators later concluded she had been murdered. Maitland was eventually found guilty after a trial that gripped the nation. Now, with sentencing looming, Lugg says she is wrestling with the reality that the legal process is nearing its end -- but her pain is far from over.

"I'm coming down to the ending of it and it's like, this is it, now, where do I go after Friday?" she asked quietly. "I am hoping that God will work a miracle where Noel will just tell me where my daughter's remains are."

"We know he is going to be sentenced, we don't know how many years. But I'm hoping he gets 100 years even though that is not in the law books. But that's not my main concern. My main concern is where's Donna-Lee's remains."

"I hope the judge considers the emotional tragedy I am going through not knowing where my daughter is. The pain is real," she added.

Lugg said some of the most difficult moments were sitting in court, staring across at Maitland. Asked what goes through her mind when their eyes met, she paused before answering.

"If I could go in his head and just to know what really happened on the 12th of July and what motivated him to let things end the way it did," she said.

Despite the emotional toll, Lugg said she will be in court when the sentence is handed down.

"Most definitely because that's the last day I will be blessing my eyes on him [and] maybe it will trigger him to say something so I can find her." Back home, reminders of Donaldson are everywhere.

"Every turn I turn there is a photograph on the wall, her trophies and awards are all around the house and those are what I have to use to feel closer to her," said Lugg, who described her daughter as multi-talented, ambitious, down to earth and focused. Lugg said the tragedy also claimed Donaldson's father.

"Her dad died of a massive heart attack because of this same case. I lost Donna and I lost her dad to this situation," she said. "On January 15, 2024, when Noel went to court and they announced that the trial begins next year, April 2025, that was when he fell from the bed unconscious, never talked again, and then died on the 19th."

According to Lugg, Donaldson's father had already been struggling with heart issues, and was wearing a pacemaker.

"He went to the hospital where he lived in the Bahamas and didn't come back home. He died of a broken heart."

Lugg said her whole world is now upside down as Donaldson was her provider, paying her bills and taking her to the doctor.

"So now I'm in the middle of nowhere."

Under the Offences Against the Person Act and the Sentencing Guidelines for Use by Judges of the Supreme Court of Jamaica, judges may treat the severe psychological suffering of victims' families as an aggravating factor when determining punishment. Courts have also recognised the extraordinary anguish caused when families cannot bury their loved ones. In several murder cases, including those where bodies were concealed or never recovered, judges have noted the prolonged trauma inflicted on relatives who are denied closure.

"I want to keep a memorial for her. I'm not fully confirmed for it but after this tough part I can think about where to go from there," said Lugg.