Emma Little-Pengelly, Stormont's deputy First Minister, has described former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson as a "master liar" and said she saw nothing that made her think he was dangerous. Speaking to UTV on Friday, she said she felt "deeply betrayed" and "sickened" by Donaldson, and that the first she knew of his behaviour was when he was arrested.
Little-Pengelly's reaction to Donaldson's crimes
Little-Pengelly, who was co-opted to replace Donaldson as MLA for Lagan Valley in 2022, said she never saw behaviour from him that she would have regarded as inappropriate. "I have just been so deeply sickened and repulsed by what has come out, I think everybody has, in terms of what Jeffrey Donaldson has done," she said.
"As somebody who knew Jeffrey Donaldson, who’d worked with Jeffrey Donaldson for a significant period of time over 20 years, nothing – nothing in the entire time that I knew Jeffrey Donaldson up until his arrest – I didn’t see anything that I could give me any rise for concern in terms of him being a sexual offender, of him being a paedophile."
Questions about knowledge within DUP
Her comments came after questions were raised about what knowledge existed within the DUP and political circles about Donaldson's behaviour. She was asked about claims in the Belfast Telegraph that she had told a woman in 2020 that Donaldson was a danger.
"I can’t speak for this woman. I can’t explain what she was thinking whenever she said that, these are not my words," Little-Pengelly said. "I seen absolutely nothing, witnessed nothing at that time, that gave me any cause of concern. I was not told anything about Jeffrey Donaldson that gave me any cause of concern. In 2020, I did not believe that Jeffrey Donaldson was a danger to anyone. And if I had thought that he was a danger to anyone, not only would I have told people, I would not have been friendly with Jeffrey Donaldson. I saw nothing in that man that made me think that he was dangerous to anybody."
Ongoing contact with the woman
Little-Pengelly added that she has ongoing contact with the woman and has asked her about the statement. "I know that I did not feel that he was a danger at that time in 2020, so it made absolutely no sense to me. She can’t give me an explanation for that, whether it’s taken out of context, whether it is some misunderstanding, that is up to her to try to explain that."
