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File photo of Leonard Watters. Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
Jail
Louis Walsh accuser receives six-month jail sentence
Leonard Watters, 24, pleaded guilty to making two false statements of sexual assault against the X-Factor judge.
A MAN WHO falsely accused Louis Walsh of sexually assaulting him in a Dublin nightclub has been sentenced to six months in prison.
Leonard Watters, 24, pleaded guilty to making two false statements to the gardaí claiming that Walsh, 59, had groped him in Dublin’s Krystle nightclub in April 2011.
Watters later withdrew his claims, but Walsh maintained that he would pursue the matter until he had been vindictated of any wrongdoing.
Today, Watters’ solicitor Cahir O’Higgins described his client as a Walter Mitty type who had suffered a “litany of disasters” from a young age. O’Higgins said the defendant had been made a laughing stock in his own community because of the false accusations, reports the Press Association.
The only person to accompany Watters to the court was charity shop owner Anne Buchanan, who said that he helped her every day at the shop and attended evening prayer meetings.
Watters, a father-of-two, was granted bail by Judge Dermot Dempsey today to appeal the sentencing, RTÉ reports.
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