Courts / Dublin / Report

Ex-RTE journalist fails in bid to overturn sex assault conviction

Summary

Mícheál Ó Leidhin, 38, a former RTÉ journalist, lost his appeal against a conviction for sexually assaulting a woman who was asleep at his former home. The Court of Appeal, led by Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly, ruled that consent cannot be implied when a person is asleep and rejected the appellant's argument that prior consensual activity could establish implied consent. Justice Donnelly described the appeal grounds as speculative and dismissed both the conviction and sentence appeals. She noted that the trial judge had considered Ó Leidhin's lack of prior convictions, good character, loss of employment, and cooperation with Gardaí, and that the final three months of the 18‑month sentence were suspended. The decision reaffirmed the conviction and the imposed custodial term.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Ex-RTE journalist fails in bid to overturn sex assault conviction. Procedural stage: appeal. Findings: Found guilty

When:

• May 13, 2018 Incident
• May 2018 Hearing Or Sentence
• 2022-12-01 Publication

Why: Ms Justice Donnelly said the argument of implied consent because of previous sexual activity was not raised at Ó Leidhin's trial and described the ground of the conviction appeal as "novel". CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Appeal Violent Crime

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Read the original CNI report