Defence barrister for former DUP leader says jury of seven men and five women must ‘ignore the noise’ surrounding case
Defence barrister for former DUP leader says jury of seven men and five women must ‘ignore the noise’ surrounding casehave been told that the two women who have accused him of abusing them as children are “not sufficiently reliable enough” for them to reach a guilty verdict.
“Focus on the evidence and when you focus on the evidence we say you will see significant and fundamental issues with each of these complainants,” Kieran Vaughan said. Ex-TD Jim Glennon described convicted child abuser as ‘friend’ with ‘infectious energy’Man gave Riad Bouchaker ‘dig to the jaw’ after seeing him ‘trying to cut up kids’, court hears The alleged victims in the case, known as Complainant A and Complainant B, claim that Jeffrey Donaldson abused them during a time period spanning the mid-1980s and 2008.
Donaldson sat in the dock as flanked by two custody sergeants as Vaughan began the final part of his closing speech, which he started on Tuesday afternoon. The defence barrister focused on the allegations of Complainant A, the younger of the two women, who he described as a “very unreliable witness”. Allegations made by Complainant B about a childhood rape by Donaldson “almost defies belief,” the defence barrister said on Tuesday.
Jeffrey Donaldson , 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 , 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. On Wednesday, Vaughan referenced three sets of abuse allegations by Complainant A, which included Jeffrey Donaldson allegedly kissing her with his tongue, touching her breasts and an incident in which she claimed a light was shone at her genitals.
The defence barrister said the allegations were “effectively a misunderstanding” of a young girl who was “troubled”, suffered nightmares and had sexual feelings from a young age. In relation to the incident in which the complainant allegedly woke up and found Donaldson shining a bright light at her “private parts”, jurors were told it “amounts to nothing”. Vaughan said that during his cross-examination of the witness, she told him she was “very confused” about this incident.
“We say it has percolated in her head for many years subsequent to that and she has been unsure about what has happened,” the defence barrister told the jury. “We say the evidence shows that nothing happened. ”Claims by Complainant A during cross-examination that Eleanor Donaldson saw her husband rub the complainant’s breasts but failed to intervene “lacked any semblance of credibility”, the defence barrister said.
This information was not disclosed during police interviews, which demonstrated the witness was “capable of telling the most awful of untruths”, Vaughan told the court. In Complainant A’s evidence about a letter she received from Jeffrey Donaldson in 2020 in which he expressed regret for the “hurt, pain and distress” caused, there was a lack of “context”, jurors heard.
Earlier in the trial, the prosecution said the handwritten letter was interpreted as a letter of apology for the alleged abuse suffered by Complainant A.There were also “flirtatious messages” with a constituent in 2020 that led to Eleanor Donaldson having Jeffrey Donaldson’s car bugged with a listening device, the court was told.
“He had been married to his wife for 39 years and it was the first time he was asked to leave the home; he was kicked out,” Vaughan said. Omitting details of Donaldson’s infidelity to police was “concerning”, said the defence barrister, adding that it was the “hallmark of a witness who is leaving certain things out”. An incident in 2021, when Jeffrey Donaldson “supposedly confessed” to the abuse when confronted by Complainant A, “just didn’t happen”, said Vaughan.
Jurors were told that when they consider the evidence of the two complainants, they must think of them as “connected” witnesses. The two women met in January 2024 and went to the police “separately but on same day” on March 7th of that year, to report the allegations. Their age span relating to the alleged offences was the same, with both stating they were aged between seven and 13, jurors heard.
“If they were truly independent, why did they feel the need to meet? Why did they, for example, come up with same age span on same day they went to police? ”“Please, word of caution: don’t think about this as two unconnected people – in fact, quite the opposite,” Vaughan told jurors. Later on Wednesday, a prosecution barrister for Eleanor Donaldson told jurors that she is “incapable of giving evidence and incapable of appearing in this court”.
Eleanor Donaldson has “not chosen not to be here”, he said.
“She has been denied an opportunity to look you in the eye from that witness box and give her account. ” A “fundamental delay” of “up to 40 years” in the two complainants reporting the alleged offences to police should cause the jury “considerable concern”.
“The real question is whether you can be sure the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt,” he said. When Eleanor Donaldson was questioned by police after being arrested with her husband at their home in March 2024, she passed that test “with flying colours”, Turkington said. She is accused by Complainant B of witnessing an incident when Jeffrey Donaldson followed her into a room, lifted her top and started “playing” with her breasts.
Earlier in the trial, the court head claims Eleanor Donaldson had seen the abuse but “turned around and walked out”, and closed the door behind her. On Wednesday, Turkington said her evidence was that her view was blocked and that she “never saw anything inappropriate”. Her account “paints a clear picture” and reflects someone who has “nothing to hide” in relation to this allegation, he said.
The court previously heard accusations that Eleanor Donaldson “facilitated” the alleged rape of Complainant B by Jeffrey Donaldson. Allegations against her were “simply untrue if not ludicrous”, Turkington told jurors.
“You can’t undo the prosecution, but you can bring to an end this nightmare of Eleanor Donaldson and do so by returning a verdict that she did not do the acts alleged. ” Judge Paul Ramsey will provide a summary of the case tomorrow before he directs jurors and they retire to consider their verdict.
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