Jeffrey Donaldson sexually assaulted a child and apologised to her years later at a church-brokered meeting, a court has heard.
The former MP and Democratic Unionist party leader allegedly committed the abuse with complicity from his wife, Eleanor Donaldson, a prosecutor told Newry crown court, in County Down, on Wednesday.
The accusations were spelled out on the second day of one of the most high-profile trials in Northern Ireland’s recent history.
Donaldson, 63, is charged with 18 sexual offences, including one count of rape. The charges span from 1985 to 2008 and involve two alleged victims. His wife, 60, is charged with aiding and abetting rape and indecent assault. Both deny all the charges.
Donaldson sat in the dock flanked by two court staff and took notes while Rosemary Walsh, the prosecutor, outlined the state’s case.
Eleanor Donaldson, who has been judged unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds, was not present. She is facing a trial of the facts, which tests the evidence but cannot result in a criminal conviction. The two sets of proceedings will happen simultaneously, with different legal teams representing the husband and wife.
Addressing a jury of five women and seven men, Walsh outlined the evidence that would be presented during the trial, which is expected to last about four weeks.
It would include pre-recorded interviews with the two complainants, known as Witness A and Witness B, who in March 2024 told police “about difficult and traumatic incidents they say happened when they were children”, according to Walsh. The two women would be cross-examined by barristers but would not come into the court, she said.
The jury would also see recorded interviews that the Donaldsons gave to police after their arrest in March 2024.
Witness B alleged that before she was 11 years old Donaldson put his hand in her pants “a lot” and that on one occasion he touched her chest, put his fingers inside her genitals, pushed her feet apart and sexually assaulted her, leaving her “feeling sick”.
On another occasion she alleged that Donaldson pulled up her top and felt her breasts, and that Eleanor Donaldson entered the room and then left, shutting the door.
As a teenager in the mid-1990s, Witness B attended a Christian rehabilitation centre where she told a woman about the alleged abuse, which led to a church-brokered meeting during which Donaldson allegedly apologised to her for what had happened in the past. She called the encounter “a bit weird and surreal”.
After his arrest, Donaldson told police he had attended the meeting but that no specific allegations were put to him and that the accusation of rape was “unbelievable”.
Witness A alleges Donaldson touched her chest and kissed her inappropriately by inserting his tongue in her mouth. When challenged, he allegedly laughed it off and said it was a joke. He also made comments about her appearance, including the size of her breasts, she told police.
The trial judge, Paul Ramsey, told the jury on Tuesday that Donaldson was well known in public life and was entitled to the same fair trial as anyone else. Donaldson was knighted in 2016 and resigned as an MP and DUP leader in 2024 after his arrest.
The trial continues.
