Jeffrey Donaldson sexual offences trial played alleged victim’s police interview

By Jonathan McCambridge, Press Association

The sexual offences trial of Jeffrey Donaldson has heard a police interview with an alleged victim recorded weeks before the former DUP leader’s arrest.

In the interview, the woman relates incidents of alleged abuse by Donaldson and said she was left “feeling dirty for a long time”.

Donaldson, 63, is accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault.

The ex-MP has pleaded not guilty to the 18 alleged offences.

The charges span a time period between 1985 and 2008 involving two alleged victims.

Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor Donaldson – from 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 after Judge Paul Ramsey ruled her 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.

Evidence in the trial began on Thursday with the video of a police interview with Complainant A from March 2024, weeks before the Donaldsons were arrested, which was played to the jury of seven men and five women.

Jeffrey Donaldson, wearing a dark grey suit, sat in the dock between two court staff as the video was played.

In the interview, the complainant said she had been of primary school age when Donaldson began to be “physical” with her.

She recalled waking up in the middle of the night on several occasions with a sexual feeling.

She said she later started to have nightmares about “adult men doing horrible things to children”.

She said from primary school age, Donaldson had put his hand up her top – and this “happened for quite a while”.

In her interview, she said Donaldson made comments about the size of her breasts as she got older.

She said she remembered a “significant event” when she was a young teenager when Donaldson “perched” over the top of her and had looked at her “private parts”.

She said: “I couldn’t move initially because I didn’t know what had happened.”

She said on another occasion Donaldson kissed her and put his tongue in her mouth.

She said this and similar incidents were “very much laughed off as a joke”.

Complainant A said when she was in her 20s, she understood that the behaviour she claimed had taken place was “not normal”.

She said: “I became very angry.”

She said she had “spent her life watching him in a public role, getting accolade after accolade”.

In the interview, she was asked by a police officer about her earliest memory of waking up in the middle of the night.

She said: “I felt very dirty for a long time.”

She added: “It feels black, there is darkness around it, it is black in my head.”

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

Jeffrey Donaldson, a former long-standing MP for Lagan Valley, was arrested and charged at the end of 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.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.