{"id":134413,"date":"2025-10-20T18:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134413\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T18:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:12:08","slug":"jeffrey-donaldson-trial-may-not-take-place-until-next-year-judge-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134413\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Donaldson trial may not take place until next year, judge says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trial of former DUP<\/a> leader Jeffery Donaldson<\/a> for historic sex offences will not go ahead next month as further medical assessments are required for his wife and co-accused, Eleanor Donaldson.<\/p>\n

During a brief hearing at Newry Crown Court on Monday, a defence barrister for Ms Donaldson said her \u201cmedical picture is incomplete\u201d.<\/p>\n

The trial was due to begin on November 3rd. <\/p>\n

Judge Paul Ramsey said it now looked as if the trial would take place next year.<\/p>\n

A recent assessment by a neurologist had identified the need for a further expert opinion, the court was told.<\/p>\n

The trial was originally scheduled for March but was postponed due to a deterioration in Ms Donaldson\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n

The couple, who deny all charges, were not present at the latest review hearing.<\/p>\n

Mr Donaldson (62) with an address in Dromore, Co Down, previously pleaded not guilty to 18 offences \u2013 one count of rape, four of gross indecency with or towards a child, and 13 of indecent assault on a female, on dates between 1987 and 2008.<\/p>\n

Ms Donaldson (59), of the same address, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of aiding and abetting in connection with the charges faced by her husband.<\/p>\n

On Monday, prosecution barrister Fiona O\u2019Kane confirmed that Ms Donaldson underwent two assessments last week and that the results would feed into a report being compiled by another doctor.<\/p>\n

That final report will be provided to the court at the end of this month or the beginning of November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a high likelihood there will be ramifications for how this trial moves forward,\u201d Ms O\u2019Kane said.<\/p>\n

The judge said there was a possibility that the report could trigger the need for another assessment.<\/p>\n

He said all those involved in the trial were \u201canxious\u201d that it proceeds but that they must await the outcome of the reports.<\/p>\n

\"EleanorEleanor Donaldson. Photograph: Liam McBurney\/PA <\/p>\n

A defence barrister for Ms Donaldson said the focus by all sides was on addressing his client\u2019s fitness.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody could have necessarily foreseen the contents of a neurologist\u2019s report; that being so, the court has seen this report. It has required the identification and retention of a further expert,\u201d said Ian Turkington.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really against that fabric we are where we are in the teeth of a trial \u2026 it seems to be regrettable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Donaldson, the long-standing MP for Lagan Valley, resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after he was arrested and charged in March 2024.<\/p>\n

Weeks before his arrest, he had led the DUP back into Stormont after a two-year boycott of the northern powersharing institutions.<\/p>\n

The then deputy leader, Gavin Robinson<\/a>, was appointed his successor as DUP leader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial of former DUP leader Jeffery Donaldson for historic sex offences will not go ahead next month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,4776,13,14,6,41435,11,12,15,16,5,954,51349,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-134413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-dup-links","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-jeffrey-donaldson","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-northern-ireland","21":"tag-stormont-assembly","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news","26":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}