Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson begins defence in sex abuse trial
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has taken the witness box in his sex abuse trial, where the jury has already heard both complainants and a disputed 2020 letter.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson began giving evidence in his own defence as the long-running sex abuse trial against the former DUP leader moved into its next stage at Newry Crown Court. The case centres on 18 charges, including one count of rape, and the jury has already heard from both complainants.
Donaldson denies all of the allegations, which prosecutors say span from 1985 to 2008 and involve two alleged victims. The charges include one rape allegation, four counts of gross indecency and 13 counts of indecent assault, placing one of the most prominent figures in Northern Ireland politics at the centre of a high-stakes courtroom battle before Judge Paul Ramsey.
A key issue in the trial has been a letter Donaldson wrote in June 2020 to Complainant A. The court has heard that he expressed “regret” for the “hurt, pain and distress” he had caused. But in a police interview in March 2024, Donaldson said the letter was “absolutely not” about abuse and was not an apology for sex offences. That dispute now sits at the heart of the defence case, as Donaldson seeks to rebut the interpretation placed on the correspondence by the prosecution.
The proceedings have also drawn in Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor Donaldson, who faces separate allegations of aiding and abetting. She denies the charges and was found unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds, so her case is being handled separately as a trial of the facts.
Donaldson was arrested and charged on 28 March 2024 at the couple’s County Down home. He resigned as DUP leader the following day, then did not contest his Lagan Valley seat at the 2024 general election. His fall from office was abrupt: he had been elected DUP leader in June 2021 and had been Northern Ireland’s longest-serving MP before the allegations emerged.
With the prosecution case now concluded, the defence has taken over a trial that carries consequences well beyond the courtroom. The outcome will shape not only Donaldson’s own political future, but also the reputational damage still hanging over the Democratic Unionist Party and the wider unionist bloc.
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