Donaldson trial hears pastor say it was 'obvious' who alleged abuser was

In a police interview shown at the Sir Jeffrey Donaldson sex abuse trial, a Christian pastor said that one of the two alleged victims told him she could not tell anyone about the abuse because it would "destroy their political reputation".

Pastor Stephen Matthews described how the woman, known in the trial as Complainant B, told him she had been sexually abused when she was very young.

Sir Jeffrey denies 18 sex abuse charges. His wife Lady Eleanor Donaldson denies five charges related to aiding and abetting.

The pastor said he could not remember clearly whether or not the complainant named her alleged abuser during their conversation in the 1990s, but that it became "obvious" to him.

"She had said he was rising through the ranks of the Official Unionist Party," he said.

"He had been the assistant to a previous MP and as such would be in line to become an MP."

He added: "There was only one person – it was Sir Jeffrey Donaldson as he is today."

Sir Jeffrey, a former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), was previously an MP for the Ulster Unionist Party, sometimes known as the Official Unionist Party.

Matthews told police he had been visiting the Christian Family Centre in Armoy with a youth group when he was approached by Complainant B, then in her teens.

"She was very, very emotionally disturbed," he said in his achieving best evidence, or ABE, interview with police.

"I spent time with her, I prayed with her, then she said she wanted to talk about something."

He said before the complainant went further, she told him she didn't want anyone to know about it.

Matthews said he listened to her and she relayed "very, very serious allegations".

"She was very, very emotional in what she was saying," he said.

"She had a very, very troubled life at that time. Very emotionally disturbed."

He added: "She looked like somebody who had come through the wars, emotionally and mentally."

Matthews said he thought at the time that the complainant should speak to someone who could give her more support, and he referred her to Davey and Linda Hoy, who ran the Christian Family Centre.

Earlier, the jury heard from Claire Selfridge, the daughter of the Hoys.

She had been living at the centre in Armoy when she said Complainant B disclosed allegations to her when they were both in their teens.

She described her shock and horror at being told of the alleged abuse.

"It was almost like a bomb went off. That's what it felt like for me," she said.

Selfridge told the court the complainant was "very troubled".

"I just remember feeling my heart was very raw for her," she said.

"Then I realised when she told me that she had been abused, that this was clearly why she was how she was," she said.

During cross-examination, Sir Jeffrey's barrister Kieran Vaughan put it to the witness that the complainant had never used the word "sexual" to describe her abuse.

To which Selfridge replied: "Correct."

The witness added that the complainant had been "matter of fact" in telling her of the alleged abuse.

Lady Donaldson faces a trial of the facts on mental health grounds, meaning she is not participating in the proceedings and cannot be convicted.