Jeffrey Donaldson’s wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson, planted a listening device in his car because she suspected he was having an affair with a constituent, a court heard
Jeffrey Donaldson’s wife bugged his car because she suspected he was having an affair with a constituent, a court has heard.
Donaldson, 63, is on trial at Newry Crown Court accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault.
The ex-MP and former DUP leader has pleaded not guilty to the 18 alleged offences carried out between 1985 and 2008, and involving two alleged victims.
Lady Donaldson denies several charges of aiding and abetting. She is facing a trial of the facts – which will test the evidence in the case, but cannot result in a criminal conviction – after she was ruled unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds.
A woman who alleges she was sexually abused by Donaldson when she was a child insisted “facts are facts” when challenged by the former MP’s lawyer.
The woman, known as complainant A, was cross-examined by Kieran Vaughan KC as Donaldson sat in the dock wearing a dark grey suit and yellow tie, occasionally taking notes, reports Belfast Live.
The trial had previously heard that Donaldson had written the letter to complainant A expressing “how much I truly regret all the hurt, pain and distressed I have caused”. The jury heard a claim that this was “nothing to do” with the allegations she has made against him.
On Friday, Donaldson’s barrister questioned why she had not handed the letter to police when she was first interviewed.
The woman told the court she “wasn’t sure it was relevant at the time”. Vaughan replied: “Are you suggesting it is relevant or not relevant to the allegations?” She said: “I think it is very relevant.”
The barrister said the letter was instead referring to other behaviour by Donaldson. The woman said while the letter did not mention sexual abuse, it had “heavy connotations of guilt and shame, and asking for forgiveness”. She added: “I believe that letter is a letter of apology for what he did to me over the years.
“He is a very clever man, he would never write in writing what he had done but he could heavily suggest.”
Mr Vaughan also asked the woman about an allegation that Donaldson had touched her breasts on a number of occasions when she was of primary school age. She said this was “mostly, one or two occasions […] over the top of a bra, but mostly skin on skin.”
The barrister then highlighted a meeting between complainant A and a police officer where she mentioned “touching over clothing”. She said: “If that is what she [officer] has written, that is what was said.”
Mr Vaughan said: “On the face of it that is inconsistent with what you told the jury yesterday, about touching under clothes.” The woman replied: “The facts are the facts, I am sticking to that.”
The barrister then referred to an incident where the woman had claimed Donaldson had “perched” over the top of her, using a light to look at her “private parts”. When challenged about her account, she said: “The light was focused on my genital area.”
Mr Vaughan said: “I suggest that is not true.” The barrister added: “You were confused and you were not sure of what you had seen.” She said: “To this day I am still confused […] I am honest about that.”
After lunch, the woman said she had spoken in 2023 to a safeguarding figure within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and also a police officer. Mr Vaughan asked why she had then waited until 2024 to lodge a formal complaint about the sexual abuse allegations.
The woman responded saying she was not ready at that point to make a formal complaint.
She said: “It was a huge decision. I knew this would be an extremely public affair, involving media. It was a huge, huge decision.”
Complainant A said she had been “extremely anxious” about reporting the allegations to police. She said: “I had doubt about doing this, I very nearly changed my mind.”
The woman is due to be questioned by a barrister representing Eleanor Donaldson next week.
The trial, which is expected to last between three and four weeks, will resume on Monday.
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.
