Judge Paul Ramsey imposed a three-year supervision and treatment order on Eleanor Donaldson at Newry Crown Court on Friday, and placed her on the sex offenders’ register for five years. She appeared briefly by videolink with her solicitor to hear the decision, and answered “yes” when asked if she understood it.
Newry Crown Court Friday
The order means Donaldson will remain under supervision and treatment for three years, with the register requirement lasting longer, at five years. The court had dealt with her through a trial of the facts after she was deemed medically unfit to stand trial.
That procedure mattered because the court still had to decide what acts it was satisfied she had done, even though she did not face a full trial in the usual way. Eleanor Donaldson and her husband’s case had been heard alongside Jeffrey Donaldson’s child sex offences case earlier this year.
Rosemary Walsh evidence
Prosecution barrister Rosemary Walsh told the court that the evidence was that Donaldson had directed Complainant B into the room where she knew serious sexual offending would occur. The court heard that three of the counts of aiding and abetting related to the rape of a primary school child.
The jury unanimously agreed that she had done the acts she was charged with. It found four counts of aiding and abetting her husband’s offending and one count of child cruelty.
Complainant A and B
Both victims were present for the brief hearing on Friday morning. In a victim impact statement, Complainant A said the effect on her had been “profound” and that she “cannot comprehend not wanting to protect a child.”
Complainant B said in her statement that she had questioned why this had happened to her and “what did I do wrong that you didn’t make it stop?”
The sentencing leaves Donaldson under court-ordered supervision while the register requirement continues after the hearing. The unanswered issue in the case is the detailed evidence behind each of the four aiding-and-abetting counts and the child cruelty count.
