Stephen ‘Rossi’ Walsh appeals indecent assault conviction

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

Stephen ‘Rossi’ Walsh appealed his conviction for indecent assault at a Court of Appeal hearing on 17 June 2021. The court reserved judgment.

A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court convicted Walsh of two counts of indecent assault on 21 October 2010, before Judge Pat McCartan. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. The prosecution case was that he had indecently assaulted a seven-year-old girl on two occasions between 1 May 1988 and 30 September 1998.

In February 2010, Mr Justice Paul Carney had sentenced Walsh to 10 years for raping a nine-year-old girl in the early 1990s. In November 2010, Judge McCartan made the three-year sentence consecutive to that term. Walsh received another consecutive 12-year sentence in December 2011 for sexual assault and defilement of a child on dates in 2008 and 2009.

Walsh’s lawyers argued that newspaper coverage published the day before his trial began on 18 October 2010 could have affected the jury, and that the judge should have adjourned proceedings to allow memories of the articles to fade. Walsh, who represented himself at trial, complained about the coverage to the judge but did not request an adjournment.

Walsh also appealed on grounds of judicial bias, claiming Judge McCartan was familiar with him through the Prisoners’ Rights Organisation. The State said the jury may not have had the articles in mind and that the judge had warned jurors to decide the case only on evidence from the witness box. State counsel said the judge had been fair to Walsh.