Jeffrey Donaldson, the former leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) in Northern Ireland, will be sentenced today for a string of sex offences against two women when they were children.
Donaldson, 63, will appear in Newry crown court after being found guilty earlier this year of 18 counts of sexual abuse including one count of rape against the women. The offences were committed between 1985 and 2008.
Extracts of the victim impact statements were read out in court by prosecution counsel Rosemary Walsh during a pre-sentencing hearing last month . One of the victims, Complainant B, described how the abuse she suffered as a child “affected her every day” and sometimes she struggled so much she “wishes she could die”. Complainant A wrote in her statement that she felt her childhood had been “stolen from her” and this had led to feelings of shame and anger.
Kieran Vaughan, mitigating for Donaldson, said during that hearing that the former Lagan Valley MP was a man of “previous good character” who “did achieve significant things”.
But he added: “These convictions obliterate all those achievements he has made in his life.”
Judge Paul Ramsey previously told Donaldson that he would face a “lengthy sentence”.
Donaldson led the DUP from 2021 until 2024 when he was charged with historical sexual offences. He denied the charges but a jury convicted him in June of one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency.
Since his conviction, he has been stripped of his knighthood and removed from the privy council.
Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor, 60, was found unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds. She faced a trial of the facts, which can test evidence but not result in a criminal conviction, and was found to have aided and abetted her husband’s offending.
She cannot be given a prison sentence but could be given a treatment order or an absolute discharge. The judge is due to decide on this at a later date.
She has lodged an appeal to have the court conclusions overturned.