A woman said she has a “very clear” memory of Jeffrey Donaldson saying to a teenager, whom he met at the girl’s request after being told she had made an allegation against him: “I know what this is about. I am truly sorry, please forgive me.”
Linda Hoy told Newry Crown Court on Friday that the girl, referred to as Complainant B, had responded: “Yes” and was tearful.
The meeting happened at the home of Hoy and her husband, David, at the Christian Family Centre in Armoy on January 22nd, 1997. Those present at the meeting were the Hoys, B and Donaldson.
There was no discussion of sexual abuse at the meeting, Hoy said.
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She was giving evidence in the continuing trial of Jeffrey Donaldson (63) with an address in Dromore, Co Down, who denies 18 charges linked to two women, referred to as Complainant A and Complainant B, who allege he sexually abused them when they were children.
Of the 18 charges on dates between 1985 and 2008, 10 – one count of rape and nine of indecent assault – relate to complainant B. The other eight – four of gross indecency with or towards a child and four of indecent assault – relate to Complainant A.
His wife, Eleanor Donaldson (60) of the same address, has denied five counts of aiding and abetting in connection with the charges faced by her husband.
Jeffrey Donaldson was in court on Friday. His wife was not as she has been ruled unfit to stand trial on the basis of medical evidence and is instead facing a trial of the facts, running concurrently with her husband’s trial.
In evidence on Friday via video-link, Laura Claire Selfridge, a daughter of David and Linda Hoy, told prosecuting barrister Rosemary Walsh she had a close friendship over years with B who told her, when they were teenagers, she had been abused by someone known to her.
“It was very shocking, almost like a bomb went off,,” said Selfridge. B did not go into detail and she had not asked her any questions, she said.
B was “very troubled”, she said. “I remember feeling my heart was very raw for her. When she told me she had been abused, this was clearly why she was what she was.”
Selfridge said B asked her to tell B’s mother but when she did so, over the phone, B’s mother said she was “making it up for attention”. When she told B’s mother she did not think B was making it up, her mother laughed and repeated what she had said.
Selfridge was “horrified” at B’s mother’s reaction but said B did not appear shocked that her mother did not believe her.
Cross-examined by barrister Kieran Vaughan, for Donaldson, Selfridge said when B spoke about the alleged abuse “it was like matter of fact, this happened to me”. She agreed B had not mentioned the word “sexual” when she said she was abused.
In a video recorded witness interview of April 17th 2024 with Christian pastor Stephen Matthews, who was too unwell to attend court on Friday, he said he was approached by a very emotionally distressed girl he had never met after he had addressed a youth weekend at the Armoy centre.
The girl, B, told him she wanted to talk about something but did not want anyone to know about it. His memory of when this happened was “very foggy” but he thought it was 1997, a time when it was “not open to betray a confidence”.
B made “very, very serious” allegations, was very emotional, had a very troubled life and was very disturbed. He believed there needed to be a mediator and brought her to David and Linda Hoy and “left it at that”.
Asked about B’s allegations, he said she said, as a very young child, she was sexually abused by a man with a political career. She told him she could not ask for help because it would destroy the man’s political reputation and she did not want that.
“It was obvious what happened had caused her immense pain.”
The girl had “life controlling problems”, he said. He could not remember if she had named her alleged abuser to him.
Asked did he know whom she was alleging was her abuser, he said that had become “obvious”.
The man was “in line to become an MP”, he said. “There was only one person, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, as he is today.”
In his evidence David Hoy said he and his wife founded the Christian Family Centre in Armoy in 1990. They helped people with difficulties, including abused women and children, and people with addiction issues.
He said Pastor Matthews had phoned him to say B had made allegations against Donaldson. He knew they were “serious” but did not really know the nature of them.
Matthews told him B was looking to meet Donaldson and was looking for a safe place to do that and wanted Hoy to arrange that.
Hoy said Donaldson was contacted and both men had a “very brief” meeting at the Dunadry Inn in Co Antrim on January 21st 1997.
He told Donaldson there had been an allegation by B and she wanted to meet him face to face. Donaldson’s response was “positive”, he did not recall him asking any questions, and a meeting was arranged for the following day.
Hoy said he believed Donaldson spoke first at that meeting and said to B: “I know what this is about, I’m sorry, will you please forgive me.” B was upset and crying and said she forgave him. Hoy said he asked B did she want to take this any further, meaning to go to the police, and she said No.
Donaldson was later helpful to the centre over “political things”, including visas for workers. Hoy said he also met Donaldson and his wife several times from 2019 regarding their marital issues.
Under cross-examination Vaughan said B’s evidence suggested she attended the centre from about the end of 1995 to 1997. Hoy said he could not be certain but that could be the case. The centre would approach addictions from “a Biblical perspective”, he said.
Counsel put to Hoy that what B had said at the January 22nd, 1997 meeting was that she had not been comfortable at times with the relationship with Donaldson and he had said, if that was the case, he was sorry and he apologised. Hoy said he could not recall that being said but it could have been. He did not believe there was any further reference by B after that meeting concerning her allegations.
Linda Hoy, under cross-examination by Ian Turkington, for Eleanor Donaldson, said she was not aware in detail of the latter’s struggles but knew in 2023 she was a “very broken person”.
The trial resumes on Monday before Judge Paul Ramsey and a jury.
