Jeffrey Donaldson convicted of 18 child sexual abuse charges

Content Warning: This article contains accounts of child sexual abuse and rape

The ex-Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been found guilty of 18 child sex abuse charges, including one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assaults.

Donaldson, who has been remanded into custody, has been told to expect a “lengthy” sentence when he appears back at court in September.

The former politician had denied the charges, calling them “just unbelievable” and “simply not true”.

Eleanor Donaldson, Jeffrey’s wife, also faced five charges, of which four related to aiding and abetting.

However, Eleanor was found unfit for a criminal trial for mental health reasons. Instead, she faced a ‘trial of the facts’. As such, whilst she was found to have committed the alleged acts, she could not be found guilty or be sentenced for them.

Jeffrey Donaldson preyed on schoolgirls

Two women victims gave evidence in the trial. Both were of primary school age at the time Donaldson abused them.

The older of the two (Complainant B) was abused between 1985 and 1991. She was the complainant for nine of the indecent assaults and the one count of rape.

She told the court of two incidents she remembered “vividly” — the rape itself, and Donaldson lifting her shirt to touch her breasts.

Further, she said that his wife, Eleanor, had witnessed the incident in part but “walked away” from it.

Donaldson abused the other victim (Complainant A) between 1999 and 2008. She also told the court that Jeffrey touched her breasts, put his tongue in her mouth, and used a light to look at her genitals.

Again, when she tried to tell Eleanor about the incident, she recalled:

I knew by the look on her face she knew I was telling the truth… once she identified I was telling the truth, she did nothing about it.

Complainant A also told the jury that Donaldson had sent her a letter in 2020, 12 years after he last assaulted her. In it, he expressed “regret” for “all the hurt, pain and distress I have caused”.

Donaldson claimed that he was referring to other behavior, rather than sexual abuse.

‘Everything I am saying is the truth’

During cross-examination, when the defence highlighted “significant and fundamental” issues with her credibility, Complainant A stated:

Everything I am saying is the truth…no matter how many questions people ask me it will never change that.

The court also heard recordings of police interviews concerning the case. In one recording, officers asked Donaldson about the rape, to which he replied:

I’m sorry, but I can’t get my head around this notion.

Regarding the rape allegation, Eleanor said in one of her interviews:

I would say that didn’t happen. Absolutely not, oh my goodness.

Complainant B stated that Jeffrey Donaldson abused her whilst she resided at the Christian Family Centre in Armoy.

The court also heard a police interview with Pastor Stephen Matthews, in which he recounted that Complainant B told him she was being abused but asked him not to go to the police because “it would destroy their political reputation”.

Victim-survivors showed ‘immense courage’

Donaldson served as leader of the DUP in the House of Commons from 2019 to 2024, and as leader of the party from 2021 to 2024. He was awarded a knighthood in 2016.

Both Donaldsons were first charged on 28 March 2024. However, the trial faced repeated delays — first due to a lack of evidence and later owing to Eleanor’s health. Eventually, she was deemed unfit to stand on 20 May this year.

The trial of both parties began in earnest on 26 May.

First minister Michelle O’Neill, of Sinn Féin, said of the victims:

It is difficult to find words that fully capture the immense courage they have shown, not only throughout this deeply distressing court case, but across their lifetimes.

DUP deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, said that “many of us feel fundamentally betrayed”.

She added:

I know our support and our thoughts will be with the victims of the appalling abuse.

To have to go through a trial to get justice only adds to the trauma they have experienced. It takes a huge amount of courage for the victims of such abuse to come forward to pursue justice.

The far-right Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader, Jim Allister, has tabled a motion in the House of Commons to strip Donaldson of his knighthood.

He also took the opportunity to speculate that the government used Donaldson’s crimes to coerce him into backing the Northern Ireland Protocol during Brexit.

To me it is inconceivable that the government was unaware of his proclivities and the idea of such being used as leverage is far from fanciful.

His about turn from ‘unalterable opposition’ to the protocol to protocol facilitator was telling.

The DUP has backed the call to strip Donaldson’s knighthood.

Party leader, Gavin Robinson, said:

Of course he should be stripped of his knighthood, and I would add to that membership of the Privy Council, as well. The full force of the law should be felt in this case.

As a party we have moved on, but we recognise for victims that will be a much harder journey and that’s why our thoughts and prayers are with them today.

Featured image via the Canary