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The two women who have accused former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of historical sex abuse are “not sufficiently reliable” for the jury to come to a guilty verdict, Lisburn Crown Court heard today.
The 63 year old former MP has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences, including one count of rape, allegedly committed between 1985 and 2008.
The judge, Paul Ramsey, is expected to sum up the case on Thursday.
Mr Donaldson’s defence barrister Kieran Vaughan KC told the jury that there were “significant and fundamental issues” with each of the complainants as the trial came to a close on Wednesday.
“You will see there are fundamental and significant issues with each of these complainants…they are not sufficiently reliable enough in order to drive you to a sure conclusion that he is guilty,” said Mr Vaughan.
It came after a prosecution barrister on Tuesday told the jury that Mr Donaldson’s wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson, “was aware her husband had a sexual interest in pre-pubescent girls.”
She has denied five related charges of aiding and abetting, and is facing a trial of the facts, therefore she is not participating in proceedings.
The jury of seven men and five women was today told to “ignore the noise” and “focus on the evidence” as Sir Jeffrey’s legal team made their closing remarks.
Prosecution barrister Rosemary Walsh KC said on Tuesday that both women knew that making allegations would have “lifelong consequences” and that it was “not something they are doing for the fun of it.”
She said that both were aware it would be a lengthy and arduous process, and that due to Mr Donaldson’s public profile, they knew the case was never going to be “confined to four walls of the courtroom.”
She also said that hopefully, both of the witnesses had articulated to the jury “precisely why they didn’t disclose the allegations to police earlier.”
Rosemary Walsh KC also told the jury on Tuesday that while she knew nothing of their personal experiences in life, “many, if not all of you, can relate to a time when you’ve suppressed your feelings, locked them away.”
She told the court that it was human nature to “lock feelings in a box” as a “coping mechanism,” adding that for some the box “can be left deep inside, gathering dust.”
She said it was human nature to lock feelings in a box, as a “coping mechanism”.
Ms Walsh said that for some “that box can be left deep inside, gathering dust.”
Ms Walsh said that it was in 2023 that Complainant A met with police and a safeguarding officer at a Presbyterian Church of Ireland building in Belfast to find out what any process would “look like if she made a formal complaint.”
She also said that in writing a letter to Jeffrey and Eleanor Donaldson in 2023, she was laying out “in clear terms what she had been shelving and avoiding.”
Ms Walsh said the woman had thought “long and carefully” about coming forward, and that it was a “huge decision” to “put her head above the parapet” and had not been made lightly.
Complainant B, the court heard, had also “locked her experiences away,” but that finding out about the allegations of Complainant B was a turning point.
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