US fugitive Nicholas Rossi reported over court 'altercation'
- Published
Rossi has appeared at court in a wheelchair and using breathing equipment
A fugitive wanted by the US authorities has been reported to prosecutors over an alleged altercation involving court staff.
Nicholas Rossi - who insists on using the name Arthur Knight - was due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for the latest hearing in a long-running extradition case.
A sheriff was told Rossi was absent from court due to a disturbance.
Security staff refused to take him into a courtroom.
Police Scotland said officers were called to the court at about 13:10 following a report of a disturbance.
US authorities are seeking Rossi's extradition over allegations of rape and sexual assault, and say he faked his own death and fled to Scotland.
The hearings in Edinburgh are examining whether he should be sent back to face trial.
Prosecutor Paul Harvey told Sheriff Norman McFadyen there had been an incident involving Rossi in the courtroom cells in the moments after he arrived in a wheelchair at the court from HMP Edinburgh.
Mr Harvey said: "There has been an altercation this morning."
The submission came shortly after it emerged that Rossi had appointed another lawyer to represent him - an Aberdeen-based solicitor called Stuart Murray.
Mr Murray - who is thought to be Rossi's seventh legal representative - asked for bail for his client.
The lawyer said he did not want to discuss the details of the incident but said that it was his client's position that he had been assaulted by court security staff.
Sheriff McFadyen said it was his understanding that security staff were "not prepared to bring him to court".
'Media circus'
Mr Murray told the court he had received sanction from the Legal Aid Board to get a psychiatrist based in Surrey to examine his client. But he said that prison staff had been unable to arrange a virtual meeting for the medic to assess Rossi.
He said that a GP was due to assess Rossi's general health. The court heard the doctor had said Rossi had refused to meet him, but Mr Murray said his client maintained this was not the case.
Mr Murray added: "It has been hard to obtain an expert to go and see him. This is due, in part, to the media circus that is surrounding the case."
The lawyer told the court he was also trying to obtain a more specific report about prison conditions in the state of Utah - but he said he had difficulty obtaining this as Rossi's US lawyer was reluctant to provide help until he had received payment.
Rossi, who insists he is really an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight, is potentially facing extradition to the US
Mr Harvey asked the court to deny Rossi bail saying that he believed that the accused's actions showed that he was trying to frustrate the legal process from operating correctly.
Sheriff McFadyen refused the motion for bail and told the lawyers that any new reports in the case would have to be lodged by 4 May.
He also arranged for another procedural hearing to take place in the matter on 4 May.
Rossi was originally arrested by Police Scotland in December 2021 after staff at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital recognised his tattoos - images of which had been circulated by Interpol - while he was being treated for Covid-19.
He has repeatedly insisted that he is Arthur Knight, an orphan from Ireland who has never been to the US.
He claimed he had been given distinctive tattoos matching those on the arms of Rossi while he was lying unconscious in hospital after receiving Covid treatment, in an attempt to frame him.
But after a three-day hearing, Sheriff McFadyen said he was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that he was indeed Nicholas Rossi.
- Published6 March 2023
- Published10 March 2022
