{"id":458662,"date":"2026-05-20T16:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/458662\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:48:09","slug":"eleanor-donaldson-unfit-to-stand-trial-in-jeffrey-donaldson-case-judge-rules-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/458662\/","title":{"rendered":"Eleanor Donaldson unfit to stand trial in Jeffrey Donaldson case, judge rules \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eleanor Donaldson, the wife of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson<\/a>, is unfit to stand trial, a judge has ruled. <\/p>\n

Judge Paul Ramsey made his decision after medical evidence regarding Eleanor Donaldson\u2019s health was given at a hearing at Newry Crown Court on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Eleanor Donaldson (59), with an address in Dromore, Co Down, is charged with five counts of aiding and abetting in connection with charges of sexual offences facing her husband. <\/p>\n

She will now face a trial of the facts. <\/p>\n

The judge will rule on Thursday on whether that trial of the facts will run concurrently with the trial of Jeffrey Donaldson, or as separate proceedings at a different time. <\/p>\n

A trial of the facts takes the place of a criminal trial where a court has ruled the defendant is medically unfit to stand trial. <\/p>\n

The jury will determine, on the basis of evidence already given, whether the individual committed the acts they are charged with. It cannot result in a conviction, but the jury can make a finding that they committed the act, or it can return a verdict of acquittal. <\/p>\n

Jeffrey Donaldson (63), of the same address, is accused of 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

Both Eleanor and Jeffrey Donaldson deny the charges. <\/p>\n

Following the judge\u2019s ruling, legal argument was heard on Wednesday on the format of the trial, which cannot be disclosed due to reporting restrictions. <\/p>\n

The couple were not in court as neither defendant was required to attend.<\/p>\n

The trial, which was originally due to begin in March 2025, has already been postponed twice due to a deterioration in the mental health of Eleanor Donaldson.<\/p>\n

At a previous hearing on Tuesday, the court heard the trial was \u201con track\u201d to begin as scheduled next week. <\/p>\n

The longstanding MP for Lagan Valley, Jeffrey Donaldson resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after he was arrested and charged with sex offences 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 Ireland power-sharing institutions.<\/p>\n

The then deputy leader, Gavin Robinson, the MP for east Belfast, took over as DUP leader. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eleanor Donaldson, the wife of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, is unfit to stand trial, a judge has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,198902,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-458662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sir-jeffrey-donaldson-court-case-pa2025","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}