Belfast man allegedly drugged and raped women suffering from addiction, court told

Prosecutors also claimed examination of his phone indicated he may have been in contact with up to 30 women

A Belfast man allegedly drugged and raped young women suffering from addiction as part of a campaign of sexual exploitation, the High Court heard on Thursday.

Trevor Donaghy, 45, is accused of attacking two vulnerable victims injected with substances and luring a third into prostitution.

Prosecutors also claimed examination of his phone indicated he may have been in contact with up to 30 women.

Details emerged as Donaghy, of Ainsworth Drive in the city, was refused bail on a total of 20 new charges involving three complainants.

He faces multiple counts of rape, supplying cocaine and administering a substance with sexual intent, along with further offences of aiding and abetting rape and controlling prostitution for gain.

Donaghy is already facing prosecution over separate allegations of trafficking another young woman with reading and writing difficulties.

He allegedly gave her drugs in return for sex and arranged to have other men pay him to sleep with her back in 2021.

Donaghy has denied those claims and described their relationship as being “friends with benefits”, the court heard.

While previously on bail for those charges, detectives pursued an investigation into separate complaints from three other women in connection with alleged incidents during 2021 and 2023.

Crown counsel said they were among 30 females identified following analysis of the defendant’s phone.

The others were either unwilling to engage with police, accepted being willing sex workers or denied a relationship with Donaghy.

Some have also been assessed as too mentally unwell to co-operate.

However, one of the three alleged victims claimed she met Donaghy as a teenager in the grip of a worsening drug addiction.

He initially provided cocaine, cannabis and pregabalin before insisting she had to “earn” her supply by having sex with him, according to her account.

The defendant also allegedly encouraged her into prostitution, posting photos on a sex worker website and lending his car to meet punters.

During police interviews Donaghy admitted supplying drugs and having consensual sex with her, but denied all other accusations.

A second woman claimed she was raped by him on three separate occasions.

In one incident she passed out after smoking crack at his home, the court heard, waking up the next morning naked from the waist down and in pain.

On another occasion she allegedly let him inject her with what was believed to be liquid cocaine, expecting it would give her a high.

“Instead, she became sick, dizzy and remembers asking him not to inject any more, but he continued to do so,” the prosecution barrister said.

“She remembers him on top of her but couldn’t fight him off and she then lost consciousness.”

The third complainant told police Donaghy attacked and raped her after she went to his house to buy drugs.

She claimed in a separate incident he provided a white bodysuit and injected her with a substance which made her drowsy.

Counsel added: “She remembered going into a bedroom and four or five men coming in one by one, unzipping the body suit and raping her.

“She saw the men giving Donaghy money (and) afterwards he gave her more drugs.”

Opposing bail, the prosecutor contended: “Any woman that is involved with him intimately is at risk. It is an insidious and dangerous risk.”

Defence barrister Paul Burns stressed Donaghy provided full accounts to police in which he denied allegations made against him.

Suggesting possible issues around the credibility of the complaints, Mr Burns went on: “He described a lifestyle with various women at that stage of sharing drugs and having consensual sexual relationships.”

Refusing to release Donaghy on bail again, Judge Patrick Lynch KC cited the risks of re-offending and interference with witnesses.

The judge also stated: “Even on his own case he is guilty of supplying drugs as a man in his forties to teenage girls.”

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