The case involving the former DUP Leader has now entered its second week at Newry Crown Court
The trial of Jeffrey Donaldson has now entered its second week where the court heard from the alleged victims of the former DUP leader.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson faces 18 historical sexual offences, including one count of rape, alongside allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges which involve two alleged victims and span a 23-year period between 1985 and 2008.
His wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson was declared medically unfit to stand a standard criminal trial and will instead undergo a “trial of the facts”.
Day 5 – Monday, June 1
A woman who says she was sexually abused as a child by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, known as Complainant A, took to the witness stand for a third day as she was cross examined by Ian Turkington KC, barrister for Eleanor Donaldson.
He questioned her about why she did not mention all of the counselling sessions she had received following the alleged abuse in police interviews in 2024. The witness said she had “nothing to hide” and had forgotten to mention some of the counselling.
The witness was also questioned about her memory following the alleged abuse with her responding “Many people know with childhood abuse there is an issue with memory.”
“I have tried to remember these events and convey them to the best of my ability.”
Complainant A was also asked about how she had told Eleanor Donaldson about an alleged incident of abuse and that this was “laughed off”.
She was accused by the barrister of “making this up as you go along?” which she refuted.
He said: “You are making this up as you go along.”
She said: “That is your assumption… I am here to tell the truth.”
Complainant A concluded giving her evidence to the trial on Monday afternoon.
READ MORE HERE: Woman who alleges Jeffrey Donaldson abused her denies she is ‘making up’ claims
Day 6 – Tuesday, June 2
The second alleged victim, Complainant B, was not in the courtroom on Tuesday but appeared via a video link. Her ABE (achieving best evidence) interview with police was played to the jury of seven men and five women.
Jeffrey Donaldson sat in the dock at the rear of the courtroom, while the interview, which was recorded in March 2024, was played. In the interview, Complainant B said that growing up, she was “sexually abused by an adult” and she particularly remembered two incidents. The woman frequently became emotional during the interview.
In the first, she claimed, Donaldson had put his hands down her underwear, pulled her legs apart and then sexually assaulted her. She said the second incident occurred when she was slightly older when, she said, Donaldson “lifted up my top” and touched her breasts.
When asked by a police officer if there were other incidents, she said she remembered “his hands down my pants a lot”.
When she was asked about the first incident, she said it occurred when she was of primary school age, saying: “I remember being really still and all I could hear was his breath.”
Complainant B said the second incident occurred when she was of secondary school age. She said: “He lifted up my top and started playing with my breasts.”
The complainant said that Eleanor Donaldson had witnessed part of the alleged incident and “walked away”.
Complainant B later said Donaldson had apologised to her at a meeting arranged at a Christian centre years later.
The witness was then cross-examined by Kieran Vaughan KC, barrister for Jeffrey Donaldson. He accused her of making up allegations pointing to an inconsistency in the age she told a counsellor the abuse had happened and what she later told police, claiming “none of it happened”.
Complainant B responded to this saying “It is quite naive for you to say that. Everything I am saying is the truth … no matter how many questions people ask me it will never change that.”
The barrister pointed out that she could not remember what age she was at the time of the alleged rape incident.
She said: “The actions that night I will never forget, what happened that night will live with me forever.”
Mr Vaughan suggested the incident “did not happen” and asked her why she did not tell anyone about it at the time.
She said: “It was my biggest mistake not telling anybody back then … I regret that every day.
READ MORE HERE: Woman tells Donaldson trial details of alleged rape will stay with her ‘forever’
Day 7 – Wednesday, June 3
Complainant B continued to give evidence in Newry Crown Court where she said she should have brought the alleged abuse to police years earlier, but had “tried not to be a victim”.
Barrister for Jeffrey Donaldson, Kieran Vaughan KC, resumed his cross-examination of the alleged victim in the morning and said she had been sent to the Christian Family Centre in Armoy after she had started to take drugs in her teenage years.
She told the court that she had taken ecstasy and marijuana, but denied that she was addicted to the substances. Complainant B added that she originally thought her issues could have been “dealt with at home”, but said going there “turned out probably one of the best things that ever happened to me”.
The barrister said while at the centre, complainant B had spoken to a woman at the facility. The witness confirmed she had told her about alleged abuse by Donaldson, but did not go into details.
The barrister said she told the woman this in an effort to leave Armoy.
The barrister said she had then spoken to a pastor at the centre about the allegations and asked why the conversation with the pastor was not in her statement to police.
The barrister asked her if she had told the pastor not to go to police, and that if he did, she would say it was “all a lie”.
She said: “I don’t remember that … if I did it would have been the stupidest thing I ever said.”
In the afternoon, Complainant B was cross-examined by Ian Turkington KC, who represents Eleanor Donaldson in the proceedings.
He referred to two alleged incidents of abuse, the first where Complainant B said she was raped by Jeffrey Donaldson and the second where she claimed that he had touched her breasts. She alleges that Eleanor Donaldson witnessed part of the second incident.
Concerning the first incident, Mr Turkington suggested it was a “figment of your imagination”. She responded: “You are suggesting that, but that is not true. My account is the truth.”
Turning to the second incident, the barrister suggested “at no stage” did Eleanor Donaldson “ever see anybody touching your breasts”.
The woman said: “She looked directly at me.”
Complainant B said Eleanor Donaldson should have “stood up and defended me”.
The barrister then questioned her about how her memory of the alleged incidents had “evolved” since counselling sessions in 2008. She said: “I locked them [memories] away, there is a reason why I did drugs and all those stupid things when I was a teenager.”
The court had previously been told that Complainant B had received a text message from a third party in 2023 suggesting Eleanor Donaldson wanted to apologise.
Mr Turkington suggested it was only when the witness received the message that she believed Eleanor Donaldson had seen the incident where Jeffrey Donaldson is alleged to have touched her breasts.
READ MORE HERE: Eleanor Donaldson should have ‘stood up and defended me’ says alleged victim
Day 8, Thursday, June 4
The husband of of Complainant A took to the witness stand and gave evidence and became emotional when he described the moment that his wife told him about the alleged abuse.
He told the court: “She said that when she was younger, Jeffrey had abused her on a number of occasions.”
The witness said his partner had “gone into detail”, stating that Donaldson had inappropriately touched her “on a number of occasions” and that he kissed her and “put his tongue down her mouth”.
He said she also told him about an alleged incident where she was “woken by a light” and Donaldson was looking at her “private parts”.
The witness was cross-examined by Jeffrey Donaldson’s barrister Kieran Vaughan and Eleanor Donaldson’s barrister, Ian Turkington KC.
Later the court heard evidence from a Presbyterian minister and his wife who had provided “pastoral support” to Complainant A and her husband after they had disclosed an allegation of abuse.
He said he had contacted the church’s head of safeguarding as he “wanted to know what the boundaries were regarding our responsibilities”.
He said the first meeting took place in 2022.
The witness said when he was on holiday in the summer of 2023 he received a message from Jeffrey Donaldson.
The court heard that Donaldson asked for the message to be kept “in confidence” and said he did not know “where else to turn and would truly appreciate the opportunity for a private conversation”.
The minister said he responded the following day that it would be “inappropriate” to have the meeting.
The court heard that Donaldson then sent a reply which said: “I do understand entirely. I don’t want to cause them further upset.
“I just want to find a way to say how sorry I am and repent before them as I have before the Lord.”
READ MORE HERE: Man recalls moment his wife revealed alleged sexual abuse by Jeffrey Donaldson
Day 9, Friday, June 9
On Friday, the trial heard evidence from Laura Claire Selfridge, who is the daughter of David and Linda Hoy, who founded the Christian Family Centre in Armoy, Co Antrim.
Ms Selfridge told the court she had a conversation with Complainant B in her bedroom in Armoy. She told the court: “She literally just said she had been abused.”
Asked about the atmosphere, Ms Selfridge said: “Very shocking, almost like a bomb went off, that is what it felt like for me.”
The witness said they had never spoken again about the alleged abuse.
Asked if she had spoken to anyone else about the alleged abuse, she said: “Never, not to this day.”
Jeffrey Donaldson’s barrister Kieran Vaughan KC asked the witness if Complainant B had used the word “sexual” in relation to the alleged abuse. She replied “No”.
The court was then played a police video interview from Pastor Stephen Matthews, who had met Complainant B at the Christian Family Centre in Co Antrim. He is not well enough to give evidence to the trial.
He said: “I listened to her and she made very, very serious allegations.”
The pastor said she told him she had been abused when “very young”. He said he had asked her why she did not “come out with this and get help”. He added: “She said she can’t because it would destroy their political reputation, I don’t want that.”
Mr Matthews said he could not remember if B had named her alleged abuser but said it “became obvious” who it was.
Mr Hoy gave evidence at the trial and spoke of meetings between himself, his wife, complainant B and Jeffrey Donaldson.
Mr Hoy said Complainant B was looking to meet Donaldson and “wanted a safe place to do that”.
The court was then told about a meeting between Donaldson, Complainant B and the Hoys in their home in Armoy the following day.
Mr Hoy said: “Mr Donaldson spoke first, he said I know what this is about, he said I am sorry and can you please forgive me.”
The witness said that Complainant B was upset but she “did say she forgave him”.
Mr Hoy said he asked B if she wanted to “take this any further and she said no”.
READ MORE HERE: Abuse claim not reported as it would ‘destroy reputation’, Donaldson trial told
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