The BelTel

“I can’t get my head around” the abuse allegations made by Witness B, Jeffrey Donaldson told police.

The tape of the former MP’s interview with the PSNI was played at his trial in Newry Crown Count on Monday morning.

The jury also heard Donaldson deny that he apologised to Witness in the case because he thought it would “make this go away”.

“I wasn’t doing anything untoward,” Jeffrey Donaldson told police officers in relation to accusations made by Witness A.

Donaldson (63) is accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault. He denies all 18 alleged offences. There are two alleged victims, Complainant A and Complainant B.

His wife Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road in Dromore denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.

Allison Morris was in court.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Sugden is the only independent MLA in Stormont. Co-opted into the assembly for east Londonderry in 2014, she served as justice minister from May 2016 to March 2017.

Widely considered a ‘liberal unionist’, in May 2021 she turned down an invitation from Doug Beattie to join the UUP but she says she’s no “soft unionist”.

 But under John Burrow's leadership, could she consider joining the party now? Can liberal Unionism be revived? And besides Unionism, what else does Claire believe in?

And she tells the BelTel that she wants to continue as a politician but not “at the expense of my health anymore.”

Claire Sugden joined Ciarán Dunbar.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Almost like a bomb went off”, that’s it was like, a witness told Newry Crown Court, when one of Jeffrey Donaldson’s alleged victims confided in her.

Claire Selfridge was giving evidence on the eighth day of the trial.

The jury also heard a claim that Jeffrey Donaldson asked one of the complainants to forgive him.

The former DUP leader is accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault. The 63-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the 18 alleged offences.

The charges span a period between 1985 and 2008 involving two alleged victims.

Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.

She is facing a trial of the facts.

Kurtis Reid reports.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Newry Crown Court has heard Jeffrey Donaldson sent a message to a minister supporting one of his alleged victims, saying he wanted to “repent before them as he had before God.”

The husband of an alleged victim in the abuse trial has broken down as he gave evidence on Thursday.

63-year-old former MP Jeffrey Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to all the 18 charges he is facing, they include rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault. His wife Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road in Dromore, County Down denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending. She is facing a trial of the facts.

Allison Morris is covering the trial for the Belfast Telegraph.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A woman who claims former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson raped her as a child has told a court in Newry she regrets not contacting police sooner. Witness B said she has “tried not to be a victim” in the years since the alleged abuse. During cross-examination on Wednesday afternoon, she said she wished she had “screamed out”.
Jeffrey Donaldson is accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault. The former MP has pleaded not guilty to the 18 alleged offences.
His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road in Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting – she faces a trial of the facts as she has been ruled unfit for a criminal trial.

Allison Morris is covering the trial for the Belfast Telegraph.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.