LONDON – Jeffrey Donaldson, the former head of Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party, was convicted Monday on rape and sexual abuse charges linked to two girls dating back decades.
Donaldson, 63, was found guilty at Newry Crown Court of one rape charge, four counts of gross indecency and 13 counts of indecent assault involving two girls between 1985 and 2008.
His arrest two years earlier brought an abrupt end to a political career in which he had been one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent advocates for preserving the region’s longstanding union with the United Kingdom. Donaldson stepped down as leader of the conservative Democratic Unionist Party, known as the DUP, and relinquished his seat in the U.K. Parliament.
Taking the stand over two days, Donaldson at times became emotional as he rejected every allegation, insisting he was “crystal clear” that he had not raped one of the girls when she was a child years ago.
Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor Donaldson, was found to have aided and abetted his offenses by witnessing the abuse and failing to step in. Due to mental health concerns, her case was handled through a fact-finding hearing that could not lead to a criminal conviction.
The two complainants, who said the abuse occurred when they were children, told the court that Donaldson groped them when they were roughly primary school age. The older complainant, identified in court as Complainant B, said he raped her.
“It just didn’t happen, I am absolutely crystal clear about that,” Donaldson told the court. “It is not something I would ever have done, it is just simply not true.”
Complainant B testified that in the 1990s, years after the alleged abuse, Donaldson apologized “for what had happened in the past” during a meeting at a Christian center where she had been staying while addressing drug-related problems.
Donaldson testified that he had apologized for making her uncomfortable at the meeting.
Donaldson wrote a letter to Complainant A in 2020 to say he regretted “hurt, pain and distress” he caused. He claimed that the letter did not refer to sex abuse allegations but other behavior.
“I know how deep the wounds are caused by my sinful and selfish actions,” he wrote and said he hoped God would “lift a sinner out of the deep pit of sin.”
