Courts / Ireland / Report

Army captain appeals conviction for sex assault on female NCO

Summary

An army captain, Ross O'Shea, appealed his October 2022 conviction for sexually assaulting a female non‑commissioned officer at a Leinster barracks in June 2020. He argued that missing CCTV footage, which might have captured the incident, deprived him of a possible line of defence. The State countered that the footage could not add to the established facts and that the contested area was "vanishingly tiny." O'Shea was found guilty of moving his open palms up and down the woman's back and saying "come on, come on" at the Officer's Mess, and of one charge of assault under the Non‑Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. He was dismissed from the army as part of the sentence. The Court of Appeal heard the appeal, with counsel highlighting discrepancies in prosecution evidence and the loss of potential CCTV, while the Director of Military Prosecutions maintained that the missing footage was irrelevant to the core facts. The court reserved judgment.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Army captain appeals conviction for sex assault on female NCO. Charges or matters: five charges, including charges of conduct contrary to good order and two charges of assault against the two female NCO officers contrary to Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997; two other charges and acquitted of a further seven charges while four more were withdrawn during the trial. Procedural stage: appeal. Findings: Found guilty

When:

• October 2022 Incident
• June 25, 2020 Incident
• September 2022 Incident
• October 14, 2022 Incident
• 2024-06-11 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Appeal Violent Crime

Read the original CNI report