Prosecution to open case against ex-DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson
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What charges does Sir Jeffrey Donaldson face in his trial?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
Well, the trial of the former Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson is due to start today. Joining me from outside Newry Crown Court is Newstalk reporter Emily Keegan. Emily, thank you for joining us from outside the court this morning as that trial is expected to begin. So what will happen today?
Yeah, so yesterday, Jeffrey Donaldson arrived at the court about an hour before anything was actually said to get going. And shortly after 11 o'clock, the jury was sworn in for both his trial and the trial of facts that is going up against his wife, Eleanor Donaldson. Now, just to remind people before we really get into it, Jeffrey himself faces 18 charges, including rape, gross indecency with or towards a child, and indecent assault. And his wife, Eleanor, is charged with five counts of aiding and abetting in relation to those charges that he faces. But last week, she was deemed medically unfit to stand a criminal trial, so she's facing a trial of facts instead, which essentially means the jury have to determine whether or not she...
committed the offences but can't actually find her guilty. So she'll never be criminally convicted if that were to be the case, if that were to be the outcome that the jury decided on. So yesterday, Geoffrey arrived in court. Eleanor won't be here for the proceedings given the nature of her case. And he sat in court with his arms crossed as the jury was sworn in. So we have 12 jurors ready to go this morning. They're returning for about half past 10 when the case, the prosecution is to set out its case in the court, in the...
And it is expected to be a lengthy trial, isn't it? And the estimate is four weeks.
Yeah, so between three to four weeks is the timeframe that the jury were given yesterday. The alleged offences are said to have happened to two alleged victims. So there will be a lot of witnesses in this case and there will be a lot of evidence to be laid out. Now, it is also important to stress that both Geoffrey and Eleanor deny the charges and have pleaded not guilty to all of them.
OK, just going back to this trial of facts that Eleanor is facing, Eleanor Donaldson. Can you talk us through what exactly that means?
Yeah, this was a new thing for a lot of us. It's not something that happens down in the South and even up here in the North, it's something that happens very, very rarely. So there were very few court reporters here who actually even knew what it was. But essentially, this is something that happens when someone is deemed unfit to stand a criminal trial. And people who have been following this case for more than two years now will know that the trial has actually been pushed back multiple times because they were awaiting reports from doctors on Eleanor Donaldson's mental state. So last week, the judge did determine that she was unfit to stand a criminal trial because of those mental health issues that she's facing.
So the jury will be asked instead to determine if she committed the offences, but she can't be found guilty or go to jail for them. They can also actually still acquit her of the charges. So essentially, the jury just has to decide if the prosecution's case is convincing and if they believe it. But the defendant, as I said, will play no part in the proceeding. So she won't be present in court for the next three weeks and she will be represented by a lawyer, a different lawyer to that of Jeffrey Donaldson.
Just going through the jury selection yesterday, I noticed that the judge said that he wouldn't insult the prospective jurors by asking them if they knew or recognised Geoffrey Donaldson. Does his profile provide a difficulty or an obstacle in swearing in that jury yesterday?
Absolutely, because this is that's not an unusual question to put to any potential jurors of if they know the person who's standing trial or if they know any of the witnesses who are going to give evidence in the trial. And because, of course, if you are aware of the person personally, if you know of anyone else who's aware of them.
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