Nicholas Rossi: Rape accused fails to halt extradition case
- Published
Nicholas Rossi arriving at court wearing a legal gown
A man suspected of rape in the United States has lost a legal bid to have his extradition case thrown out of a Scottish court.
Nicholas Rossi allegedly faked his own death to try and avoid prosecution.
He continued to deny his identity when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court wearing a legal gown.
Mr Rossi previously claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, but a sheriff ruled last November that he is Nicholas Rossi.
His lawyer, Mungo Bovey KC moved for the extradition hearing to be scrapped.
He cited a recent decision to move Mr Rossi to a prison in England so that police in Essex could question him about another alleged rape there.
Mr Bovey said it would be wrong to proceed with the hearing and, potentially, set terms for Rossi's extradition based on his current medical condition before knowing if he would be charged in England.
He said that if charges were brought and proven, then Rossi could end up going to jail in England.
During that time, Mr Bovey said his client's health could deteriorate before he was extradited - under the terms set at court in Edinburgh when he was in better health.
Mr Bovey said: "In my submission we are in an awkward position by reason of a decision apparently made in the Crown Office."
Advocate depute Alan Cameron argued that the extradition hearing should continue, however, saying Mr Bovey's argument rested on possibilities.
After a lengthy adjournment, Sheriff Norman McFadyen decided the hearing would go ahead but added that the subject of Mr Rossi being wanted for questioning in England being raised at its outset was "deeply unsatisfactory".
Mr Rossi was arrested and detained, while he was being treated for Covid 19 at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, in December 2021, in connection with an alleged rape in Utah.
It was alleged that Mr Rossi faked his own death in 2020 and fled from the US to the UK to evade prosecution.
The hearing continues.