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The State of Us

2. The Prosecution’s case

5/27/202611 min

A special series from The State of Us podcast. Jeffrey Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to all 18 charges he faces, including one count of rape. His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, faces a trial of the facts on related charges of aiding and abetting, which she has denied. Today the Prosecution set out their case. WARNING : Contains distressing content

– For more on this story check out bbc.co.uk/news/northern Ireland or the BBC News NI website

Clips

Graphic Rape Allegation Described
Defense Must Prove Nothing
Meaning of Reasonable Doubt

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Declan Harvey· Host0:00

    Prosecutors have started setting out the case against the Donaldsons. A barrister said the two alleged victims were children at the time they say the abuse happened.

  2. Tara Mills· Host0:09

    There were details of alleged rape, sexual assaults, and claims one of the victims received an apology from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson for events of the past.

  3. Declan Harvey· Host0:17

    He sat in the dock occasionally writing some notes. And a warning, there are some details in this episode that, uh, some listeners might find distressing.

  4. Tara Mills· Host0:26

    This is the Donaldson Sex Abuse Trial.

  5. Declan Harvey· Host0:28

    [upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to this special series from the State of Us podcast by the BBC in Northern Ireland as day to day we follow the trial of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson. I'm Declan Harvey.

  6. Tara Mills· Host0:47

    And I'm Tara Mills. And today the prosecution began to set out the charges they have brought against Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Lady Eleanor Donaldson.

  7. Declan Harvey· Host0:55

    Yeah, just a reminder, 18 charges have been brought against, uh, Sir Jeffrey, including one of rape, and five have been brought against his wife, Eleanor, including aiding and abetting his alleged abuse.

  8. Tara Mills· Host1:05

    Can we start, Declan, by clearing up the picture of the jury? Because yesterday journalists weren't allowed into the room for selection- Yeah ... so we couldn't be sure about the final makeup.

  9. Declan Harvey· Host1:16

    Yeah. Well, we got, um, sight of them today. Journalists were finally allowed inside Court One at, uh, Newry. And there are seven men and five women on this jury, a total of 12, of course. And today

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