Jeffrey Donaldson’s victims sat just metres away from him inside Newry’s courtroom one as he was handed a 15-year-prison sentence for sexually abusing them as children.
Almost 1,000 days on from his arrest, it marked the end of a gruelling two-year process for the two victims at the heart of this case.
In June, a jury of 12 people found the former DUP leader guilty of 18 historical sex offence charges that he had carried out against the two women in their youth.
Despite having first given evidence to police in January 2024, the abuse that they had endured as children occurred long before.
However, as the court heard on Thursday through excerpts from their victim statements, the impact is not something that ended when the abuse stopped or something that started again when they first came forward to police.
“For a long time, I dealt with the abuse by locking it away,” victim A said in her statement, read out in parts by Judge Paul Ramsey.
“I want the court to understand what was done to me has broken me.”
The lasting effects of the sexual abuse she experienced as a child have taken a toll emotionally, psychologically and physically.
The added toll of having to go through a public trial, she said, had been “so much harder to bear” than what she had anticipated.
Victim B, addressing both Jeffrey and Eleanor in her statement, said that they both could have saved her from having to endure the court process.
The toll of what she experienced as a child, she said, has led her to pray “every day” that God will let her die.
“I wish I knew hope, but you both took this away,” she said.
Judge Paul Ramsey told the court in Newry that he was in “no doubt whatsoever” about the toll the abuse has had on both women.
That, alongside the abuse of trust, protracted nature of offending, the youth of the victims and difference in age between them and Donaldson, as well as the fact that there were two victims, would all contribute towards the sentence that was ultimately handed out.
As he neared the delivery of the sentence, Judge Ramsey said that Donaldson’s denial of the offences when interviewed by police, again when he gave evidence at trial, and in his post-conviction meetings with probation officers was “highly significant”.
“There has not been, and doubtless will not be, one word of regret, apology or shame from this man to at least provide his victims with some crumb of comfort,” he said.
Just before 11.30am, the judge drew his remarks to a close.
“Please stand,” he said.
Donaldson, who had been watching on from the dock in a navy suit and pink tie with a prison officer on either side, rose to his feet.
“Jeffrey Mark Donaldson, you are now 63 years of age,” Judge Ramsey said.
“It is well known that you, in the course of your political career, have reached the very heights of public office, and this is, on any view, a catastrophic descent into disgrace.”
The bravery of both women in coming forward to police, the judge said, had brought him to justice.
Turning to the charges, the judge first dealt with those relating to victim B.
These included the most serious charge of rape.
For that offence, the judge handed him 11 years in prison.
The judge then went through the remaining eight counts of indecent assault committed against this victim.
For six of these, he was given 18-month sentences, two resulted in 20-month sentences, and a four-year sentence was given for the remaining charge.
However, the judge ruled that these sentences would all be served concurrently.
Next, turning to the offences against victim A, Judge Ramsey noted that while they were “not as grave” as those committed against B, they were still incidents of “serious sexual abuse”.
The eight charges, four of which were for gross indecency towards a child and the remaining four for indecent assault, resulted in an additional four years being added to Donaldson’s total prison sentence.
While each carried its own sentence, these too are to be served concurrently.
When the sentence was handed down and he was sent back to custody, Donaldson did not react.
The 63-year-old has lodged an appeal against all 18 of the convictions, with the outcome of that process yet to be concluded.
His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, was found to have done the acts in a trail of the facts over aiding and abetting charges related to her husband’s offending.
However, she will not be held criminally responsible or face prison as she was ruled not medically fit to face trial.
The court is due to deal with the next steps relating to Eleanor next month.
