'It just didn't happen,' Donaldson tells trial

Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has denied that he raped a woman as a young child in evidence to his trial on sex abuse charges.

The 63-year-old took the stand this morning to give evidence in his own defence.

He was asked by his defence barrister Kieran Vaughan KC whether there was any doubt in his mind about the circumstances of the alleged rape of Complainant B.

"It just didn't happen," he said.

"I'm absolutely crystal clear about that. It's not something that I would have done.

"It is simply just not true."

Mr Vaughan put a further allegation to him involving Complainant B, one of two women who allege they were abused as children by Mr Donaldson.

Mr Vaughan asked whether he had touched her chest and that his wife had witnessed this.

Mr Donaldson said the idea that his wife would have witnessed him involved in such conduct and would not have immediately intervened was "just unbelievable".

"I'm absolutely clear that there's no situation in which that happened," Mr Donaldson told the jury.

Mr Donaldson was also asked whether he accepted any of the allegations levelled against him by the other complainant, Complainant A.

She claims Mr Donaldson touched her breast as a child, had used his tongue to kiss her and had used a bright light, possibly a torch, to examine her genitals.

Mr Donaldson replied "No" in response to his barrister.

Mr Donaldson was also asked about a letter he had written to Complainant A in 2008.

In it, he told her he truly regretted "all the hurt, pain and distress" he had caused her.

He said he had dug a pit of sin for himself as a result of his own selfish actions which were the product of a "sinful nature which I have failed to address for too many years".

Complainant A has already given evidence to the trial that she interpreted it as an apology for the abuse she allegedly suffered.

Mr Donaldson denied that and said he had been apologising for other behaviour.

Kieran Vaughan asked him whether the letter had been about "any form of abuse".

Mr Donaldson said: "Absolutely not. I would never have done anything of that nature. This is not the reason this letter was written.

Mr Donaldson was asked about the pressure his work as a politician had placed on his marriage.

He said politics had been "all consuming".

He acknowledged an affair in 2008, which he said had had a "devastating" impact on his wife Eleanor.

He said he "deeply regretted" the infidelity and told his wife about it.

He said there were further tensions later when Mrs Donaldson found out about "flirtatious" texts with a woman he had been helping during Covid.

At one point he had been asked to leave the house.

Mr Donaldson told the jury that at one point a bugging device had been placed in his car and recordings of a "flirtatious" conversation with a female constituent had been played to him.

Later Mr Donaldson was asked about the circumstances of a meeting in a Christian Centre in Armoy in 1997 between him and Complainant B in the company of the couple who ran the centre.

Mr Donaldson said he remembered the incident. He accepted that he had apologised to Complainant B if he had made her feel uncomfortable in the past.

Kieran Vaughan asked him whether the apology had been about alleged abuse.

"No," Mr Donaldson replied ,"because there had been no abuse".

Mr Donaldson said no specific allegations had been put to him in that meeting and he had never heard them until after his arrest.

He said for him, the meeting with Complainant B that day had been a "positive experience" and they had embraced at the end of it.

Mr Donaldson was also asked in greater detail about the allegations made by Complainant A.

He was asked whether he had ever kissed her using his tongue or touched her breasts.

He said "absolutely not", he described the suggestion as "ridiculous" adding that it was something that would not have happened.

Turning to allegations that he had used a bright light, possibly a torch, to examine Complainant A's genitals, Mr Donaldson, said he had not done what had been alleged.

The case continues.