Court of Appeal dismisses Richard Muldarry’s conviction appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Richard Muldarry’s appeal against his conviction, rejecting both grounds he advanced. The proceedings were reported on 7 November 2025.

The former Defence Forces sergeant was convicted following a court martial hearing in April 2024 of three counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault and two counts of misconduct. The offences arose over several hours at a military base on 13 November 2021.

Before the trial, he pleaded guilty to two further counts of misconduct and one count of drunkenness relating to the same incident.

The court heard that Muldarry sexually assaulted a woman colleague twice, placing his hands on her leg and moving them up her thigh on one occasion and, later, placing his right hand inside her leg and moving it towards her groin. He also sexually assaulted a male subordinate by embracing him and moving his face towards him, causing the man to believe he was trying to kiss him. Muldarry was convicted of assaulting both colleagues and of misconduct that included making sexualised gestures at another colleague.

At sentencing at McKee Barracks on 1 October 2024, Military Judge Col Michael Campion imposed six months’ detention, suspended for one year, for each sexual assault charge, along with fines totalling €3,000 for those charges. The effective sentence was five days’ detention and a €5,100 fine; Muldarry also received reprimands and severe reprimands on other counts.

Muldarry, who claimed concussion had affected his behaviour, argued on appeal that the military trial judge had wrongly admitted evidence from a prosecution psychiatrist and refused to admit photographs of him. Mr Justice Peter Charleton said the court was not upholding either ground.