A letter sent by former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson to a woman who claims he sexually abused her when she was a child was not an apology for the alleged offences, his trial has been told.
Complainant A, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced cross examination for a second day at Newry Crown Court.
Jeffrey Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to 18 sexual offences charges, including one of rape.
They include eight charges relating to Complainant A, four of indecent assault and four of gross indecency, all of which are alleged to have occurred between 1999 and 2008.
Barrister Kieran Vaughan KC, representing Mr Donaldson, put to her that her interpretation of the letter in which he said he was seeking forgiveness and help from God was mistaken.
In the letter Mr Donaldson expressed regret for "all the hurt, pain and stress" he had caused.
Complainant A has said she viewed the letter as an attempt by Mr Donaldson to apologise for what he had done to her over the years without specifying what.
She described him as a very clever man who would not write what he had done in a letter but had hinted at it heavily.
The lawyer put it to her that her account did not reflect the proper context in which the letter had been sent.
"This has nothing to do with you and sexual assault," he said.
The lawyer said Mr Donaldson had instead been apologising for other behaviour.
The complainant said she disagreed with that.
Mr Vaughan also introduced a variety of other communications between the complainant and Mr Donaldson which he suggested demonstrated a "friendly banter" at variance with the abuse claims.
Earlier, the woman rejected suggestions that the alleged incidents of sexual abuse did not happen.
Kieran Vaughan KC put it to her repeatedly that her account of three specific incidents was not accurate.
They are allegations that the defendant put his hand under her bra and rubbed her breast, kissed her using his tongue and used a light, possibly a torch, to look at her genital area.
When it was put to her that Mr Donaldson had not rubbed her chest as she had described, she replied: "I do not accept that."
The complainant also rejected a suggestion that she had misinterpreted an alleged incident when Mr Donaldson used a light to look at her genital area.
"The light was moving and it was focused on my genital area," she replied.
The complainant described some of the suggestions put to her as "quite insulting".
"This is all suggestive, it's not factual, I have given you the facts and I stand by the facts," she said in response to suggestions that the alleged incidents had not happened.
The complainant alleged that the former DUP leader's wife, Eleanor Donaldson, had witnessed an incident when he had rubbed her chest with his hand under her clothing but did not intervene.
Mrs Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to five related offences of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.
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This afternoon, the complainant confirmed that she had spoken to the Head of Safeguarding for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the minister at her church in early 2023 and had also met a police officer.
Asked why she had not lodged a formal complaint with the police at that time, instead of in March the following year, she replied: "I was not ready to do it … it was a huge decision."
She said she was aware that there would be huge public and media interest in the case because of who Jeffrey Donaldson was.
"I was extremely anxious about reporting it," she told the court.
"I thought about doing so many times, but I talked myself out of it.
"I very nearly changed my mind, but I didn't."
The trial will resume on Monday when Complainant A will be cross examined by a lawyer representing Eleanor Donaldson.
