A prosecution barrister has put it to former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson that he treated a woman who claims he raped her as a child “like an object”.
Giving evidence at his historical sexual offences trial in Newry Crown Court, Donaldson repeatedly denied that he had abused two alleged victims.
He told the jury that he is “crystal clear” that the rape allegation is “simply not true”.
The ex-MP, who became emotional at times while giving evidence, also told the court how his head was “in a spin” when he was arrested in 2024.
Donaldson, 63, has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences.
The charges include one count of rape and allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency, and span a time period between 1985 and 2008 involving two alleged victims.
Complainant A and B have both given evidence at the trial.
Both women allege they were abused as children.
Lady Eleanor Donaldson, 60, from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.
She is facing a trial of the facts on mental health grounds.
On Thursday afternoon, prosecution barrister Rosemary Walsh KC asked Donaldson if the two complainants in the trial were lying.
He said: “I’ve told the truth and I believe what has been said is untrue.”
When asked if this meant he believed both were lying, he agreed.
Ms Walsh then asked him at “what point” he had started abusing Complainant B.
The former MP replied: “I didn’t.”
The barrister said the alleged victim had claimed it started when she was aged between seven and eight, and suggested this was an “easy time” to start abuse.
Donaldson said: “I don’t agree at all with what you are saying.
“That wasn’t happening. I am saying that didn’t happen, very clearly saying it.”
She asked him if the abuse had begun “quite discreetly”.
Donaldson said: “Again I say to you, this did not happen.”
Ms Walsh suggested the alleged victim “didn’t know” at first the abuse was sexual, due to her young age.
He said: “This did not happen.”
Ms Walsh asked him at what point Eleanor Donaldson had “become aware” he was abusing the girl.
He said: “Given that I was not abusing, that was not an issue. Eleanor wouldn’t have known because there was nothing to know.”
When Ms Walsh questioned him about the alleged rape of Complainant B, Donaldson said: “I am absolutely crystal clear it didn’t happen.”
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Donaldson pointed out that the prosecution had given a “time range of three or four years” for the alleged rape.
Ms Walsh said: “You could tell us when it was it happened.”
Donaldson said: “I don’t know when it was because it did not happen.”
Ms Walsh suggested Donaldson knew by the time of the alleged rape that Complainant B would not tell anyone because he had “already been abusing her”.
He said: “Absolutely not.”
He added: “There is absolutely no way Eleanor would have agreed, been party to, consented, to anything of that kind of nature.
“That just did not happen, it simply did not happen.”
The barrister asked him why the alleged victim had “told all these serious lies”.
He said: “I wish I knew the answer to that question.”
The barrister turned to an incident where Donaldson has been accused of lifting Complainant B’s top and touching her breasts when she was of secondary school age.
The court has previously heard a claim from Complainant B that Eleanor Donaldson had walked in during the alleged encounter, but left without doing anything.
Donaldson said: “Nothing inappropriate ever happened.”
Ms Walsh suggested he had seen “an opportunity like opportunities you have taken before”.
He said: “I am afraid I simply cannot accept that.”
The barrister suggested Donaldson had abused her “because you could”.
He said: “No, no… nothing untoward happened.”
Regarding the allegation that Eleanor Donaldson had walked in and out again, he said: “No, no.”
She said: “Once Eleanor Donaldson left that room, you carried on because you knew that you could.”
He said: “No, absolutely not.”
Mr Donaldson was asked why, if he was telling the truth, he thought Complainant B had made up the allegations about him.
He said that perhaps she was angry because his career as a politician was on the “up and up”, while she was dealing with drug problems at a Christian centre in Armoy.
Ms Walsh said Complainant B had claimed Donaldson had treated her “like an object”.
She added: “Is that what she was to you?”
He said: “Absolutely not.”
She said: “You did just treat her like an object.”
He responded: “No, I did not.”
Earlier, Donaldson had been questioned by his own barrister Kieran Vaughan KC
The court has previously heard evidence about a letter Donaldson wrote to Complainant A in June 2020, where he had told of his “regret” over the “hurt, pain and distress I have caused”.
The defence has previously told the court the letter does not relate to any alleged abuse, but is about another matter.
Donaldson read extracts of the letter to the court.
Mr Vaughan asked him if the letter referred to incidents of abuse.
Donaldson said: “Absolutely not.”
He added: “This is not the reason why this letter was written.”
The barrister turned to the rape allegation made by Complainant B.
Donaldson told the court: “It just didn’t happen, I am absolutely crystal clear about that.
“It is not something I would ever have done, it is just simply not true.”
Mr Vaughan turned to another incident where it is alleged Donaldson had lifted the girl’s top and touched her breasts.
Donaldson said he did remember an occasion being alone with the girl, but said they had just been talking.
He said he got up and left when he heard his wife, Eleanor, call his name.
Mr Vaughan asked if there had been any inappropriate behaviour.
He said: “Absolutely none whatsoever.
“There was nothing I would have done that could be misconstrued.”
He said the idea was “just unbelievable”.
Donaldson also rejected any suggestion that his wife had witnessed the abuse but did not intervene.
He said: “She would have been very angry, she would have intervened immediately.”
He added: “I am absolutely clear, there is no situation where that happened.
“I would not have been doing that.
“It is just unbelievable.”
Asked about other allegations of inappropriately touching the same alleged victim, he said: “Absolutely not.”
The court has previously heard that Donaldson had met with Complainant B in the 1990s after she attended the Christian Family Centre in Armoy.
Donaldson said at the meeting he had said he was sorry if Complainant B had felt “uncomfortable”.
Mr Vaughan asked if any allegation of sexual abuse was put to him at the meeting.
He said: “No, not ever, those allegations had never been put to me.”
He was asked if he had been apologising for abuse.
Donaldson said: “No, because there had been no abuse and that was not the nature of the meeting.”
The barrister then turned to allegations made by Complainant A.
Asked if he had ever kissed her on the mouth as a child, Donaldson said: “Why would I kiss a child using my tongue?
“That is just ridiculous, that just did not ever happen.”
Donaldson was asked about another allegation that Eleanor Donaldson had witnessed an occasion where he touched Complainant A’s breasts.
He said: “My wife would have gone bananas, that is not something she would have tolerated.”
Asked about another incident where Complainant A had claimed he had nodded after she had confronted him about alleged abuse, he said it “did not happen”.
Donaldson told the court about the moment he and his wife were arrested by police over the allegations in 2024.
He said they had been at home sleeping when police called at six in the morning.
He said: “It was totally unexpected, we just had no idea.”
He added: “It was just a complete shock, we had no idea this was coming.”
He said he could not remember all that was said during the arrest, adding: “All I could hear was legal words.”
Asked by the barrister if he had thought about the allegations subsequently, he said: “Every waking moment.”
Donaldson added: “My head was in a spin, I was thinking ‘what is this about?’
“You do your best to answer questions.”
Donaldson also told the trial that his work as an MP had been “all-encompassing” and his wife had been “devastated” when he had had an affair in 2008.
He said he confessed the affair to Eleanor Donaldson and had “regretted it”.
He said there was another occasion during the Covid-19 pandemic when a bugging device had been placed in his car after his wife had discovered he was exchanging “flirtatious” texts with a woman.
The prosecution cross-examination of the former MP will continue on Friday.