DUP ex-leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson accused of sexually abusing two women

Two women who have accused Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of sexual abuse claim the former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader subjected them to "traumatic incidents" when they were children, his trial has heard.

The prosecution opened its case at Newry Crown Court in Northern Ireland on Wednesday. The 63-year-old former MP is accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault. He denies all 18 charges.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place between 1985 and 2008 and relate to two complainants.

Donaldson’s wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson, of Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending. She is facing a trial of the facts.

Jeffrey Donaldson, wearing a blue suit, stood in the dock with his hands clasped as the charges against him and his wife were read to the jury of seven men and five women.

Barrister Rosemary Walsh KC opened the prosecution case by outlining the evidence. She told the jury they would hear from witnesses, as well as details from police interviews carried out with the Donaldsons at the time of their arrest in 2024.

Ms Walsh said two complainants had come forward to police more than two years ago and reported "difficult and traumatic incidents they say happened when they were children"

She said the complainants' evidence would in part be presented through pre-recorded interviews. She said they would be cross-examined by barristers but would not attend court in person.

Ms Walsh said that, in March 2024, Complainant B told police that she had been sexually abused as a child and that she remembered two incidents "vividly".

In the first alleged incident, she told police that Jeffrey Donaldson had put his hands down her underwear, pulled her legs apart and sexually assaulted her. In the second alleged incident, she told police that Donaldson had lifted her top and touched her breasts.

Ms Walsh said Complainant B had said there were other incidents and that Donaldson had put his hands down her pants "a lot".

The barrister told the jury that Complainant B later attended a meeting with Donaldson at a Christian centre, where he had "apologised to her for what had happened in the past".

Ms Walsh then turned to the evidence that would be presented during the trial by Complainant A.

Complainant A also made a statement to police in March 2024. She alleged that Donaldson touched her under her top on a number of occasions when she was a child.

She told police that touching her had become something he had "done quite often". She told police that Donaldson would make comments about her appearance, including the size of her breasts.

She recalled one incident in which she claimed that Donaldson had been "looking at her private parts".

The jury was told that the Donaldsons were arrested on March 28, 2024, and were subject to a number of police interviews.

In Jeffrey Donaldson’s interview, when Complainant B’s account was put to him, he said it was "unbelievable" that he would have touched her in a sexual way. Regarding Complainant A, he denied ever rubbing her breasts.

Eleanor Donaldson is facing a trial of the facts, not a criminal trial, after Judge Paul Ramsey ruled she was unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds.

The trial of the facts will test the evidence in the case but cannot result in a criminal conviction. It is being heard by the same jury, with proceedings against both defendants running alongside each other as part of a single trial process overseen by Judge Ramsey.

The trial is expected to last between three and four weeks.

Jeffrey Donaldson, a long-serving former MP for Lagan Valley, was arrested and charged in March 2024. He resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after the allegations emerged.

Weeks before his arrest, he had led the DUP back into devolved government at Stormont after a two-year boycott of the powersharing institutions.