When Jeffrey Donaldson met a teenager at her request after she had made serious allegations against him, he told her: “I know what this is about. I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” a court has heard. The woman, referred to as Complainant B, “was upset and crying and said she forgave him,” David Hoy told Newry Crown Court.Hoy, who with his wife Linda was also at the meeting between Complainant B and Donaldson, said that part of the meeting at the couple’s home at the Christian Family Centre in Armoy, Co Antrim, on January 27th, 1997, was “very short”.Under cross-examination by defence barrister Kieran Vaughan, counsel put to Hoy that what Complainant B had said at the meeting was that she had not been comfortable at times with the relationship with Donaldson, and the former DUP leader had said, if that was the case, he was sorry and he apologised.Hoy said he could not recall that being said, but it could have been. He did not believe there was any further reference by Complainant B after that meeting concerning her allegations.He was giving evidence in the continuing trial of Donaldson (63), with an address in Dromore, Co Down, who has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges linked to two women, referred to as Complainant A and Complainant B, who allege he sexually abused them when they were children.Of the 18 charges on dates between 1985 and 2008, 10 – one count of rape and nine of indecent assault – relate to Complainant B. The other eight – four of gross indecency with or towards a child and four of indecent assault, relate to Complainant A.His wife, Eleanor Donaldson (60), of the same address, has denied five counts of aiding and abetting in connection with the charges faced by her husband.David Hoy and his wife Linda arrive at Newry Crown Court on Friday. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA Eleanor Donaldson is not in court as she has been ruled unfit to stand trial on the basis of medical evidence and is instead facing a trial of the facts, running concurrently with her husband’s trial.On Friday, David Hoy told prosecuting barrister Rosemary Walsh that he and his wife Linda founded the Christian Family Centre in Armoy in 1990 and he is “more or less the grandfather of it”.When they moved to Armoy, they had reached out to people with difficulties, including abused women and children, and people with addiction issues.[ Husband of woman who claims Jeffrey Donaldson abused her as child breaks down in courtOpens in new window ]He got a phone call from Pastor Stephen Matthews to say Complainant B had made allegations against Donaldson. He knew they were “serious” but did not know the nature of them.He said Matthews said Complainant B was looking to meet Donaldson and was looking for a safe place to do that, and asked for the Hoys to arrange it. Hoy said Donaldson was contacted and they had a “very brief” meeting at the Dunadry Inn in Co Antrim on January 21st, 1997.He told Donaldson there had been an allegation by Complainant B and she wanted to meet him face to face. He said Donaldson’s response was “positive”. He did not recall that Donaldson asked any questions, and a meeting was arranged for the following day.That meeting, at the Hoys’ home, was attended by Complainant B, Donaldson and David and Linda Hoy, the court was told.Hoy said he believed Donaldson spoke first and that he said: “I know what this is about, I’m sorry, will you please forgive me.” Complainant B was upset and crying and said she forgave him. Hoy said he asked Complainant B if she wanted to take the matter any further and she said she did not. In asking her did she want to take it further, he meant go to the police. There was no discussion about what the allegations were, and he did not recollect how the meeting ended, the witness added.Donaldson was later helpful to the centre over political things, including visas for workers, he said. He had also met Donaldson and his wife several times from 2019 regarding their marital issues.[ Woman who claims she was abused by Jeffrey Donaldson blames herself for not going to policeOpens in new window ]Under cross-examination, he agreed with Vaughan, for Donaldson, that his evidence related to matters many years ago but believed the first contact Complainant B and her family had with the centre was about 1996.When Vaughan said Complainant B’s own evidence suggested she was in the centre from about the end of 1995 into 1997, Hoy said he could not be certain but that could be the case.Earlier, Laura Claire Selfridge, a daughter of David and Linda Hoy, said she had a close friendship over many years with Complainant B. Selfridge recalled having a conversation with Complainant B when both were teenagers. B had told her she had been abused by someone known to her. “It was very shocking, almost like a bomb went off, that’s what it felt like for me,” said Selfridge.Complainant B did not go into detail beyond those words and she herself had not asked B any questions. B was “very troubled”, she said. “I remember feeling my heart was very raw for her. When she told me she had been abused, this was clearly why she was what she was.”Selfridge said Complainant B asked her to tell B’s mother.She told the court that when she spoke to Complainant B’s mother by phone and told her B had told her she had been abused by someone known to her, Complainant B’s mother laughed and said she was making it up for attention. When she told Complainant B’s mother she did not think B was making it up, her mother repeated what she had said.Selfridge said she was “horrified” at the mother’s reaction but when she told Complainant B about it, she did not appear shocked that her mother did not believe her.Selfridge said she had never spoken about matter since, either to Complainant B or to B’s mother.Under cross-examination by Vaughan, Selfridge agreed it was Complainant B who suggested that she call B’s mother and agreed B’s mother was “dismissive”.She said she would describe B as “troubled”. She agreed B had not mentioned the word “sexual” when she said she was abused. “It was like sharing something just as a matter of fact that this happened.”In a video-recorded witness interview of April 17th, 2024, Pastor Stephen Matthews, who was too unwell to attend court, told a police officer that he had been made aware his name had come up during the police investigation into the allegations.He recalled that after he spoke during a youth weekend at the Armoy centre he was approached by a girl whom he had never met before.The girl, Complainant B, was very emotionally distressed and he spent time with her and prayed with her. She told him she wanted to talk about something but she did not want anyone to know about it.His memory of time was very foggy but he thought it was 1997 when it was not open to betray a confidence, he said. The girl made “very, very serious” allegations, was very emotional in what she was saying, had a very troubled life and was very disturbed. She seemed like someone who had “come through the wars”.He believed there needed to be a mediator, brought her to David and Linda Hoy and “left it at that”. He would have talked to Complainant B again after that but not about the allegations she had made.Asked about her allegations, he said she said that, as a very young child, she had been sexually abused by a man with a political career. When he asked her if her mother or anyone else knew, she told him she could not ask for help because it would destroy the man’s political reputation and she did not want that. She did not say exactly what kind of abuse but it was “very serious”.Matthews said he thought she was going through enough pain without asking about details and he believed what she needed was help. “It was obvious what happened had caused her immense pain.”He said the girl had “life controlling problems”. He could not remember if she had named her alleged abuser to him.Asked did he know who the alleged abuser she referred to was, he said: “It became obvious.” The man was “in line to become an MP”, he said. “There was only one person, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson as he is today.”He said B would remember the details of their conversation better than him and he had no paper records of it. He had met people with all sorts of pain and would describe her as vulnerable. She had told him he could not break her confidence because it would affect her alleged abuser’s political career.He said he had prayed with thousands of people over the years, was all over the country, meeting all sorts of people and did not remember all, but he did remember meeting B.The trial continues before Judge Paul Ramsey and a jury.