The victims of Jeffrey Donaldson (63) have been hailed for their “courage” and “bravery” after the former MP was sentenced to 15 years in prison for child sex offences.
The former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, was convicted in June of 18 counts of abuse committed against two women when they were children, including one charge of child rape, and was sentenced on Thursday.
The abuse, which spanned a more than 20-year period from 1985 to 2008, began when each woman was around seven years old.
His wife Eleanor Donaldson (60), was found following a trial of the facts to have done the acts in relation to five charges, including four of aiding and abetting her husband’s abuse.
Newry Crown Court was told during sentencing on Thursday that Donaldson had been assessed at medium risk of reoffending, and had “doubled down on his denials” since his conviction.
“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,” Judge Paul Ramsey said.
Donaldson was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.
[ Donaldson ‘deserves every day’ of 15-year sentence for sex offences, says DUPOpens in new window ]
Addressing reporters outside the court afterwards, the senior investigating officer in the case, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Det Chief Insp Leah Crothers, said she wanted to commend the “bravery in pursuing justice” of Donaldson’s victims.
She said they had lived “in silence and fear of the repercussions of telling someone or of not being believed” and “both brave women have suffered immeasurably as they come to terms with what happened to them as children.”
“He robbed them both of their childhood and innocence,” Crothers said.
She said that throughout the case, both women were “subjected to speculation online and in the media with their legal right to anonymity being jeopardised in the process and yet they remained steadfastly supportive of the criminal justice process.”
Welcoming Donaldson’s sentencing, she said “the police service and our criminal justice system has sent a clear message [that] no one is above the law.”
The head of the Public Prosecution Service Serious Crime Unit, Catherine Kierans, said the “courage shown by the two victims in reporting the sexual abuse was the catalyst for a thorough PSNI investigation”.
She said she wanted to “pay tribute to the victims in this case”, saying prosecutors “recognise that it took great courage to speak out.
“Victims of sexual abuse should never feel shame for what was done to them,” she said.
“The shame belongs solely to those who commit these offences.
“We know that the criminal justice outcome will not heal all the hurt these two incredibly brave women have experienced, however, we hope it will be of some comfort to them as they look to the future.”