Donaldson denies claim he treated alleged rape victim ‘like an object’

Court artist drawing Jeffrey Donaldson in the witness box at Newry Crown Court, where he and his wife Eleanor Donaldson are accused of historical sexual offences. Picture: Elizabeth Cook /PA Wire

A prosecution barrister has put it to former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson that he treated a woman who claims he raped her as a child “like an object”.

Giving evidence at his historical sexual offences trial in Newry Crown Court, Donaldson repeatedly denied that he had abused two alleged victims.