A woman giving evidence at Newry Crown Court in the trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has stated she should have reported the alleged abuse to police years before she did. Complainant B, one of two women who accuse Donaldson of historical sexual offences, told the court on Wednesday that she blamed herself for the later alleged abuse of the other complainant.

Donaldson, aged 63, of Dromore, County Down, denies 18 charges including rape, gross indecency, and indecent assault. Ten of those charges relate to Complainant B and concern alleged offences between 1985 and 1991. His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, aged 60, is charged with five counts of aiding and abetting. She denies the charges and is not present in court, having been found unfit to stand trial; she faces a trial of the facts running concurrently.

Under cross-examination by Donaldson’s barrister Kieran Vaughan KC, Complainant B was asked about her time as a teenager at a Christian centre in Armoy, County Antrim. She confirmed she had been sent there after taking drugs and stealing money. She said disclosing alleged abuse to a woman at the centre and later to a pastor had occurred, but she did not recall the pastor suggesting they approach police. When a suggestion was put to her that she had told the pastor she would deny the allegations if police were contacted, she said she could not remember it and described it as a stupid thing to say. She added that she was embarrassed and afraid, and had attempted to move on and build a life.

Vaughan questioned Complainant B about later contact she had with Donaldson as an adult, seeking help with work and travel. She said that contact did not change what had happened when she was a child. Asked about a message she sent to the second complainant after both attended a police station, in which she said two voices were better than one, she denied it was intended to strengthen the case and said it was about mutual support.

Ian Turkington KC, representing Eleanor Donaldson, put it to the witness that her account of the alleged rape was a figment of her imagination. Complainant B replied that her account was the truth. On an allegation that Eleanor Donaldson witnessed Donaldson touching her breasts and walked away, Turkington said his client recalled being in the room but saw nothing inappropriate and only saw Donaldson’s back. He stated Eleanor Donaldson had asked her husband about the incident many times and told police there was something she did not like going on, but she could not get anywhere with it. Complainant B said she saw Eleanor Donaldson look at her and that a text message received in 2023 suggesting Eleanor wanted to apologise confirmed what she had always thought.

Complainant B completed her evidence on Wednesday. The trial continues.