https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/jeffrey-donaldson-trial-may-be-delayed-until-next-year-court-told/a712562055.html

The trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife Eleanor for alleged historic sex offences has been delayed potentially until the new year.

During a brief hearing of the case at Newry Crown Court it was stated a full medical report on Eleanor Donaldson has yet to be completed.

A barrister for the Crown told Judge Paul Ramsey KC that two outstanding assessments had been carried out on Eleanor Donaldson.

But she said the results would “feed into” the report being compiled by another doctor who requires the responses to the assessment before submitting a full report.

The barrister said the prosecution hoped to be in a position to provide the report to the court at the end of this month or the beginning of November.

“There is a high likelihood there will be ramifications for how this trial moves forward,” she said.

Jeffrey Donaldson (62) has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences.

These alleged incidents span a time period between 1985 and 2008, and there are two alleged victims.

Eleanor Donaldson (59) of Dublinhill Road, Dromore is facing charges of aiding and abetting, which she denies.

Neither defendant attended the short hearing.

Judge Ramsey was told the trial could not go ahead on November 3, the date on which it was due to begin.

The trial had previously been due to start in March but was delayed due to Eleanor Donaldson’s medical condition.

Listing the case for a review on November 13, Judge Ramsey said he couldn’t set a new trial date as he didn’t know what was likely to happen after a full medical report was presented to the court.

The judge added it may well trigger the need for further reports.

Senior counsel for Eleanor Donaldson told the court the “focus of all parties” has been to address the issue of fitness for trial.

He said “nobody could have foreseen” the outcome of a neurological assessment which required the identification and retention of further experts and the “medical picture is incomplete”.

Judge Ramsey said he would like to be in a position on November 13 to fix a new trial date but he said “it’s very much looking like it’s going into next year”.

Jeffrey Donaldson, the long-standing MP for Lagan Valley, was arrested and charged at the end of March last year.

He resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after the allegations emerged.

Jeffrey Donaldson court case: Key reminders after Monday’s hearing

by ciaranjoneill

16 comments

  1. What the fuck is going on with these ballbags…… Any other Joe & Joan Blogs would have been convicted and been inside for a year….
    Some dark forces are at work

  2. Why is her health report holding up him being trialed?

    Would this be afforded to anyone else?

  3. I think Eleanor Donaldson, is hoping she dies before the trial 🙄🤦🏼‍♂️

  4. Man, those NHS wait times are brutal for everyone.

  5. Unfortunately having access to the best legal people means you can exploit the loopholes in the legal system. Don’t be surprised if these two don’t face trial for years if not ever.

  6. As has been said before on this sub: it’s the Swish Family Robinson Mark2. In this case the strategy seems to be to wear down the key witnesses.

  9. This is such an injustice for the victims. I hope they take the judge to task over this.

  10. Far greater chance of getting a conviction if he had a relative in SF.

    Take a moment to consider the sabotage of the GFA and Trimble during the 90s, the absolute torture and trouble he put on mid 90s early 00s NI, all the while he was allegedly the worst variety of alleged sex offender.

    But it was ok he worse his stupid fish badge. Pure evil incarnate.

  11. Her mental health, what about the victims and the stress and anxiety these delays are causing them. It’s disgraceful, I understand that the assessments are quite niche and only so many people are qualified here to carry them out in NI but can the courts not make her pay privately to have them done sooner so the trial can go ahead?

  12. They have a holiday booked in Barbados in February, of course, the trail can’t start until after the holiday. Then Lady Donaldson’s health will be so bad. The case gets dropped and they walk free, to move to Canada. See yeaaaa later.

  13. Rarely if ever will you see the elites face justice. It simply doesn’t happen, the entire Epstein saga, Prince Andrew, Trump. You name it. One rule for us and one rule for them.

    My sympathy to the victims.

  14. Imagine if this couple were connected to Sinn Fein, there’s no way the trial would be kicked down the line

  15. All they’re doing here is delaying the inevitable, this isn’t gonna go away, the peelers wouldn’t have went near them in a million years if the evidence was not overwhelming. They’re fucked, the best she can hope for is flat 10, the best he can hope for is to he put in isolation when he arrives at Maghaberry.

    Honestly, Jeffrey would be better buying one of Trumpys golden VISAS and fleeing to the US, Trump protects his own, that’s his only escape from this.

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