There is “no reason” why two women who claim that Jeffrey Donaldson sexually abused them as children would “lie in this way”, Newry Crown Court has heard.
Delivering her closing arguments at the former DUP leader’s trial on Tuesday, prosecution barrister Rosemary Walsh told jurors that the alleged abuse suffered by the women “has consequences” that “cannot be ignored and brushed under the carpet any longer”.
The alleged victims, known as Complainant A and Complainant B, have “put their heads above the parapet and braced for what was coming at them”.
They were not “promoting a pack of malicious lies for absolutely no good reason”.
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Jeffrey Donaldson sat in the dock writing throughout the near three-hour period when Walsh addressed the jury of seven men and five women.
Later, Donaldson’s defence barrister, Kieran Vaughan, urged jurors to “block out the noise” against his client, saying they had been “bombarded” with noise about the case from social media, news reports and podcasts.
Vaughan also told the jury to set aside Donaldson’s politics and consider the evidence “without fear or favour”.
For the jury to convict him, they “must be sure”.
“Nothing less will do. Suspicion is not good enough. You have to be sure,” he said.
Allegations made by Complainant B that the former Lagan Valley MP raped her as a child “almost defies belief,” the defence barrister added.
Jeffrey Donaldson (63), with an address in Dromore, Co Down, is accused of 18 offences – one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency with or towards a child, and 13 counts of indecent assault on a female, on dates between 1985 and 2008. He denies the charges.
His wife, Eleanor Donaldson (60), of the same address, is charged with five counts of aiding and abetting in connection with the charges faced by her husband – charges she denies.
Eleanor Donaldson is not present in court as she has been ruled unfit to stand trial on the basis of medical evidence and will instead face a trial of the facts.
Both complainants were “conditioned” to abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Donaldson, a “confident and charismatic individual”, Walsh said in her closing remarks.
The prosecution barrister told jurors that when she cross-examined him, she asked him a number of times why the complainants would “make up these awful lies against him”.
“The reality is this – there is no reason why these women would lie in this way,” she said.
Earlier, jurors heard that the “pain and hurt” of the complainants is “still visible”.
They knew their decision to go to police in March 2024 would have “utterly life changing consequences”.
Walsh described how Complainant B “blamed herself” for Complainant A’s alleged abuse because she did not make her allegations sooner.
She also singled out a meeting Complainant B had with Donaldson while staying at a Christian centre in Armoy in Co Antrim in the 1990s, which had the potential to be “explosive”.
Under cross-examination last week, Donaldson said the Christian minister who arranged the meeting was “mistaken” in his evidence to the court that it was set up to discuss a “serious” allegation made against him by Complainant B.
Instead, he claimed it was called because the alleged victim, who was in her late teens at the time, had felt “uncomfortable” about their relationship in the past.
On Tuesday, Walsh told the jury that the “biggest fly in the ointment” in relation to this meeting was evidence given during the trial by the couple who set it up, David and Linda Hoy, the founders of the centre.
“The Hoys both have a completely different version of this incident,” she said, adding it was “one that completely stacks up” with the evidence.
Walsh told jurors the meeting was significant for a “number of reasons”, including that Donaldson is “willing to lie and shift his account to desperately try and sidestep the fact that he knew an allegation was made”.
The prosecution barrister also rejected suggestions of “collusion” between the two women, with claims they had got together and “concocted” their allegations.
Both complainants made previous disclosures to other people and it was only in January 2024 that they met.
Referring to an incident where Complainant B alleges she was raped by Donaldson as child, Walsh said she recalled the “rustling”, the breathing, “laboured and panting and the hope he would stop and lose interest”.
Recounting an alleged incident where B claimed Donaldson lifted her top and played with her breasts, she said: “In the dark, he treats her like the object she is to him.”
Referring to an incident of childhood abuse involving Complainant A when she alleged she was woken by a “bright light”, she said the alleged victim was “certain she knew he was looking at her private parts with a light”.
Donaldson had been “caught in the act”, she told jurors.
The barrister referred to a letter “of apology” written by Donaldson to Complainant A in 2020 where he referred to “being in a deep pit of sin”.
It was a matter for the jury to decide whether the letter “refers to the hurt” linked to the alleged victim.
Donaldson had claimed in his evidence that the letter was about his infidelity.
In relation to Eleanor Donaldson, the prosecution barrister said she was “fully aware of the risk Mr Donaldson posed” but “did not intervene but rather facilitated the abuse”.
She was “aware her husband had a sexual interest in prepubescent girls”, said Ms Walsh.
The alleged offences took place when the complainants were between the ages of seven/eight and continued until they were 12 or 13, the court heard.
During his closing remarks to the jury, Vaughan said the case comes down to “one word or two words from two complainants against Mr Donaldson’s word”.
“When all is said and done, that is what it is about, their word against his word.”
Vaughan said Donaldson had been asked why the two women would make up claims against him.
“In the cold light of day, that is almost an impossible question for any defendant to answer in a case.”
In relation to the rape claim, Vaughan said it was “bereft of details” and makes “no sense at all”.
“The ridiculousness of the allegation ... the lack of supporting evidence – we say leads you to the conclusion, ‘you cannot be sure’,” he added.
An allegation that Donaldson had played with Complainant B’s breasts and continued after his wife had opened the door “defied common sense” and was “farcical”, added Vaughan.
The defence closing submissions will continue on Wednesday morning.
