Jeffrey Donaldson sex abuse trial: two complainants spend five days in witness box

The trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and wife Eleanor at Newry Crown Court has reached its halfway point, with two alleged victims central to proceedings.

Complainants recount alleged abuse as Donaldson trial passes halfway mark

Two alleged victims in the child sex abuse trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife Eleanor Donaldson have collectively spent five days in the witness box at Newry Crown Court, the Irish Times reports.

Giving evidence via video link from an adjoining room, the two complainants — referred to in court as Complainant A and Complainant B — have had their police interviews played to the jury, answered questions from the prosecution barrister, and endured lengthy cross-examination by defence barristers. In one case, that cross-examination extended across two full days.

One of the most emotionally charged moments of the trial came when Complainant B broke down while being asked why she had not reported the alleged abuse to police years earlier.

"I should have … I should have," she told the court, adding that she was "so afraid … so embarrassed." She said she blamed herself for what she described as the subsequent abuse of the second alleged victim. "If I'd done that, it wouldn't have happened [to her]. It's my fault."

She told the court that what happened was "seared into her brain for the rest of her life" and that her "biggest mistake" was not telling anyone at the time. "I will regret that every day," she said.

The charges

Jeffrey Donaldson (63), with an address in Dromore, Co Down, faces 18 charges in total: one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency with or towards a child, and 13 counts of indecent assault on a female, covering dates between 1985 and 2008. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

His wife, Eleanor Donaldson (60), of the same address, faces five counts of aiding and abetting in connection with the charges faced by her husband, which she also denies. Eleanor Donaldson has been ruled unfit to stand trial on medical grounds and is not present in court. The jury of seven men and five women will determine, on the basis of the evidence presented, whether she committed the acts alleged.

The trial began at Newry Crown Court last week and is expected to run for approximately four weeks. At roughly the halfway point, the prosecution is still presenting its case, with the majority of evidence so far coming from the two complainants.

Complainant B's account

Ten of the charges against Jeffrey Donaldson — the rape count and nine counts of indecent assault, relating to dates between 1985 and 1991 — concern Complainant B, described as the older of the two alleged victims. She has claimed the abuse began when she was approximately seven or eight years old and continued until she was 12 or 13.

In her police interview, played to the court, she alleged that Donaldson raped her while she was in primary school. She said she remembered him "putting his hands inside my pants" and then "pulling my legs apart with his two feet." She described pretending to be asleep "hoping it would stop."

Donaldson was always silent during the alleged incidents, she said, but she recalled his breathing: "It wasn't just in and out, it was laboured and panting."

Complainant B also alleged that Eleanor Donaldson had facilitated one rape and had walked in on another alleged incident — in which she claimed Jeffrey Donaldson had followed her into a room and "lifted up my top and started playing with my breasts and stuff" — before turning around, leaving the room, and closing the door behind her. She said Eleanor Donaldson had "tried to contact me to apologise for not doing anything" years later.

The court also heard evidence about an alleged apology at the Christian Family Centre in Armoy, Co Antrim. David Hoy, who co-founded the centre with his wife Linda and arranged the meeting, told the jury that when Jeffrey Donaldson met Complainant B, he said: "I know what this is about. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

This characterisation was disputed by Donaldson's barrister, Kieran Vaughan, who contended that Complainant B had told his client "he hadn't made you comfortable with the relationship at the time" and that Donaldson had replied: "If that's the way I made you feel, I apologise."

Complainant A's account

Eight of the charges against Donaldson — four of gross indecency and four of indecent assault, alleged to have taken place between 1999 and 2008 — relate to Complainant A, the younger of the two alleged victims.

She told the court she had received a letter from Jeffrey Donaldson in which he described himself as a "sinner" and said he regretted "all the hurt, pain and distress I have caused." She said the letter "felt like an apology … he was trying to apologise for perhaps the abuse that had occurred, but he didn't want to say that formally in writing."

The defence barrister argued the letter "had nothing to do with you" and was instead connected to a suspected extramarital affair. The court heard that the Donaldsons had separated for a period in 2020 and that Eleanor Donaldson had arranged for a listening device to be planted in her husband's car to gather evidence about the suspected affair.

"The proper context of this letter is a marital dispute that led to him being kicked out of the house," the barrister said.

Complainant A rejected that interpretation, saying Donaldson was "a very clever man … given the success of his career, he would never have written what he had done [about the abuse] in a letter."

In her police interview, played to the court, Complainant A said she had been "sexually abused" by Jeffrey Donaldson from "quite a young age."

Donaldson in the dock

Throughout the proceedings, Jeffrey Donaldson has watched from the dock, flanked by two custody officers. He has reacted only rarely — once or twice with a shake of the head — and has for the most part stared straight ahead with an impassive expression, or kept his head down while making notes.

Source: Irish Times