Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has appeared in court charged with historical sex offences. The long-standing Lagan Valley MP has been accused of a total of 11 sex offences, including rape and gross indecency with a child.
Donaldson, 61, Northern Ireland’s longest-serving MP, has said he intends to strenuously contest the charges, which relate to two alleged victims.
Mr Donaldson, who was suspended from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) following his arrest last month, arrived at Newry Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning for the first stage of the court process.
He arrived separately to his wife, who also faces charges. The pair stood together in the dock during their court appearance.
During the brief court appearance, dressed in a grey suit and green tie, Mr Donaldson spoke only to confirm his name, age, and that he understood the charges before a packed courtroom. A tight security presence was visible when Sir Jeffrey arrived at court shortly after 9:30 am, accompanied by his solicitor John McBurney.
The politician has been charged with one count of rape, one count of gross indecency towards a child, and nine counts of sexual assault during a twenty year period, on dates ranging between 1985 and 2006.
Appearing before district judge Eamonn King, the eight-minute-long court hearing heard that Sir Jeffrey, who was knighted for his services to politics in 2016, was charged with rape on an unknown date between January 1985 and January 1991.
The charge states that the politician “had unlawful sexual intercourse” with the alleged victim who “did not consent to it” or Sir Jeffrey was “being reckless as to whether the said person consented.”
The veteran unionist is also charged with four counts of indecent assault against the same victim, which allegedly took place on dates between January 1985 and December 1991.
The charges also allege that Sir Jeffrey abused a second victim and carried out an act of gross indecency towards a child between January 2005 and December 2006. He is also charged with five counts of indecent assault against the same alleged victim between December 2004 and January 2006.
The politician’s wife, Lady Donaldson, 58, is co-accused in the case, and faces charges of aiding and abetting the rape and one indecent assault allegedly carried out by her husband.
The four charges she faces span nearly ten years, and relate to the same alleged victims.
After the brief court appearance, Mr Donaldson was released on bail, alongside his wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson. Sir Jeffrey’s bail conditions were relaxed to allow him to speak to his wife, and it was agreed during the court hearing that bail conditions stopping contact between the husband and wife could be lifted.
The case will be heard on 22 May, when the defendants are not required to be present.
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This has WEF, WHO writing all over it, I suspect this is a setup, as Jeff wouldn’t agree to the globalist agenda, hence motion passed yesterday at NI Stormount to allow Tran’s pedo’s into the education system to exploit children, Jeff was opposed to this, they needed him out of the way,,, time will tell.
See that’s the way things go, you do bad things, they will always coke back to bite you in the hole 10 fold. The criminals in the daily should take notice, their days are coming very soon.
So… does this mean he didn’t vote as the globalist in the City wanted him to? We know some of the politicians are being blackmailed. Is he one of them or was it a real situation? mmm… the mind boggles. Maybe it was both. One has to ask why these accusations always appear 20 or 30 years later, when someone is a party leader and critical events are happening or if a politician goes against a narrative! There is a huge effect of the Free Masons in Northern Ireland on everything… Has this a big effect on the daily ‘ever-more’ irrational decisions of our eejits in the Dáil and Senate? Are our idiots also walking into ‘Honey-Pot’ traps? This is a threat to our national security and should be investigated!
Or maybe the orange man fan boy is a sick perv.
Conspiracy theory again. Perhaps Mr. Donaldsons troubles are a warning to the rest of the compromise perverts to stay in line. Not much sympathy for a a DUP man so he can be got rid of at no cost. On the other hand maybe him and his missus were just in to weird stuff.
just say the word ‘conspiracy theory’ and you are following the CIA instructions! They invented this, to shut people up after the Kennedy assassination! The problem is that most of the theories are now considered to have been conspiracies. How much people know depends on how much they research by themselves and read on the subjects. Those who don’t, cover themselves up, and also their belief in the system, that world is only made of good people, who want only to improve the world or that politicians are working for us, because we elected them! So they say to anything that doesn’t fit that narrative… Conspiracy theory!
Well what do you know, countries are asking for their illegals back from tayto and she is winding down the the 6 month clock. https://www.bitchute.com/video/1HD8LFGmVTrY/
If you compensate for her female voice… I would swear it was Varadkar answering… one-to-one! They see their role as serving and pleasing the EU, by forcing the EU laws on us… not as serving the Irish people! Disgraceful!
I do not believe rape victims are best served by media trials. There are some instances where the perpetrator gets off but also instances where a falsely accused person has his life destroyed. Reporting of the trial once the guilt has been proven with evidence not hearsay and sentence passed would best serve justice. Sadly mainstream media is far more concerned about making money from sensationalizing everything rather than truth and justice. It is a sad indictment of the moral bankruptcy of mainstream media.
In the ROI accused persons are not publicly named unless and until proven guilty. That is as it should. In NI accused persons are named when charged. Naming accused persons prior to the court case effectively results in them being tried and found guilty by media as in this case where people are declaring him guilty because he is a member of the DUP.
God be with the days when the press simply reported that a man was helping police with their inquiries.