An unemployed dance teacher who falsely accused X Factor judge Louis Walsh of groping him in a nightclub has suffered from post-traumatic stress for more than a decade, a court has heard.
Leonard Watters is appealing against a six-month sentence for making two false reports to gardaí that the pop music mogul sexually assaulted him in Dublin nightspot Krystle in April 2011.
His solicitor, Cahir O’Higgins, told Dublin Circuit Court that new medical reports revealed the father-of-two has suffered from post-traumatic stress since he was badly burned in an incident when he was 11 years old.
He described his client (24), who has been on bail since he was sentenced in January, as a Walter Mitty-type character who became star-struck over the company he was with in the celebrity nightclub and made an idiotic allegation that was the ultimate cry for help.
Judge Katherine Delahunt adjourned her decision until Friday morning.
