Northern Ireland's former unionist leader convicted of decades-old child sex abuse claims [View all]
Source: PBS/AP
LONDON (AP) — Jeffrey Donaldson, the former leader of Northern Ireland's largest unionist party, was convicted Monday of rape and sex abuse charges involving two girls decades ago.
Donaldson, 63, was found guilty at Newry Crown Court of one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assault charges involving two girls from 1985 to 2008.
Donaldson's arrest two years ago ended his career as one of the leading Northern Ireland voices in favor of maintaining the historic ties with the United Kingdom. He resigned as leader of the conservative Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, and gave up his seat in the U.K. Parliament.
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Donaldson's wife, Eleanor Donaldson, was found to have aided and abetted her husband's offenses for witnessing the abuse and doing nothing to intervene. Because of mental health issues, she faced only a fact-finding hearing that could not result in a conviction.
Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/northern-irelands-former-unionist-leader-convicted-of-decades-old-child-sex-abuse-claims
But over the next four weeks, as the 29-year Westminster veteran heard the case against him over 18 charges, allegedly committed against two women when they were children, he cut an increasingly lonely figure.
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Whether through the language used by those testifying, the quoting of bible verses or the Ichthys - otherwise known as the 'Jesus fish' - pinned to Donaldson's lapel, Christianity was a regular theme over the course of the trial.
Through his life in the public spotlight, the former DUP leader had often spoken of his faith, including in an interview just months before his arrest in which he said it helped "anchor" him in the "storms" of politics.
His victims talked of their faith too.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8x2e0pp1exo
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