Donaldson sex abuse trial hears police interview from alleged rape victim

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The jury in the Sir Jeffrey Donaldson trial has been played a video recording of the police interview with a woman he allegedly raped and indecently assaulted when she was a child.

The woman, known as Complainant B, is the older of two alleged victims who have accused the former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader of sexual abuse.

She spoke to police weeks before he was arrested along with his wife in March 2024.

Ten of the 18 sex abuse charges he denies relate to Complainant B, with the offences allegedly committed between 1985 and 1991.

Warning: This report contains details that some readers may find distressing

Complainant B’s ABE (Achieving Best Evidence) interview, which lasted 75 minutes was played at Newry Crown Court on Tuesday morning.

At points in the interview, she was tearful and her words were occasionally inaudible.

She alleged Sir Jeffrey used to put his hands down her underwear “quite a lot”.

Recalling the alleged rape incident, when she was of primary school age, she claimed he put his feet between her feet and then pulled her legs apart.

His breathing was heavy and he was panting, she said.

She then added she felt something “different” and “something I’d never felt before.”

Complainant B stated: “I hated it yet I thought if I pretend to be asleep he’ll just stop and lose interest.

“I thought what’s the point in shouting.”

She said the following day she felt “really sick” and “anxious”.

Complainant B also said she remembered another incident in which Sir Jeffrey allegedly lifted up her top and “played” with her breasts.

She claimed to detectives that Lady Eleanor Donaldson had witnessed it and walked away.

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Sir Jeffrey also denies acts of gross indecency and indecent assault against Complainant A when she was a child, between 1999 and 2008.

His wife, Lady Donaldson, denies five charges related to aiding and abetting.

She faces a trial of the facts after she was previously deemed unfit to face a conventional trial on mental health grounds, and is therefore not participating in proceedings.