The former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has arrived at court for the start of his trial on charges of alleged historical sexual abuse. The 63-year-old clasped a brown satchel and had a Christian fish symbol pinned to the lapel of his blue blazer as he entered Newry Crown Court.
Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences. Proceedings at the court in Northern Ireland will commence with the process of selecting a jury.
The charges include one count of rape and allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency, and span a time period between 1985 and 2008, involving two alleged victims.
Donaldson's wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband's alleged offending. The 60-year-old is facing a trial of the facts, not a criminal trial, after Judge Paul Ramsey ruled her unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds. The trial of the facts will test the evidence in the case but cannot result in a criminal conviction.
It will be heard by the same jury, with proceedings against both Donaldsons running simultaneously as part of one overall trial process presided over by Judge Ramsey.
Donaldson, a former long-standing MP for Lagan Valley, was arrested and charged at the end of March 2024. He resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after the allegations emerged. Weeks before his arrest, he had led the DUP back into devolved government at Stormont after a two-year boycott of the powersharing institutions.
