Ross O’Shea loses appeal against sexual assault conviction

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

Captain Ross O’Shea’s appeal against his convictions for sexual assault and assault was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 15 October 2024. A separate sentence appeal remained pending.

O’Shea was tried in September 2022 before Military Judge Colonel Michael Campion and a General Court Martial board. On 14 October 2022, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a female non-commissioned officer by moving his open palms up and down her back and saying “come on, come on” or words to that effect. He was also convicted of assaulting her by moving towards her in a manner that caused her to apprehend an assault. The incident followed a social function at a Leinster barracks on 25 June 2020.

He received a six-month custodial sentence suspended for one year, and his dismissal from the army was ordered. The report said he had remained a serving member pending appeal.

O’Shea faced 18 charges in total. He pleaded guilty to five, including conduct contrary to good order and two assaults on the two female NCOs. He was convicted of two other charges, acquitted of seven and had four withdrawn during the trial.

At the appeal, James Dwyer SC argued that missing CCTV footage had deprived O’Shea of a possible line of defence and might have resolved discrepancies in the evidence. Remy Farrell SC, for the Director of Military Prosecutions, argued that the area of contention was “vanishingly tiny”.

Delivering judgment, Ms Justice Tara Burns said the footage, if it ever existed, could not be classified as a lost realistic line of defence. The court questioned whether it would have helped interpret the events and rejected the suggestion that possible discrepancies would materially damage the complainant’s credibility.

A barrister for O’Shea said submissions were being filed on his sentence appeal and sought a future hearing. Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy adjourned the matter to the next list to fix dates.