Criminal barrister Desmond Rosario was jailed for four years last summer
A Sheffield barrister who went on the run after sexually assaulting a 15 year-old girl has been booted out of the profession today.
Desmond Rosario — formerly a criminal law specialist at top northern set St John’s Buildings — first hit headlines back in December 2014. Failing to appear before Leicester Magistrates’ Court over accusations of sexual assault, Rosario went on the run, prompting a national appeal on the Beeb’s Crimewatch.
Within 24 hours of the show airing, Rosario — who was a tenant at Paradise Chambers prior to its merger with St John’s in 2011 — was apprehended by police at Birmingham airport. Appearing at Leicester Crown Court last May, Rosario was jailed for four years for sexual assault.
According to reports at the time the now ex-barrister, who was called to the bar in 1990, had visited the home of an acquaintance in October 2013, and then assaulted that person’s daughter.
The tribunal — disbarring Rosario — said that his “criminal conviction amounted to engaging in conduct that was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him as a barrister.”
Sara Jagger, the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) director of professional conduct said:
We consider the tribunal’s decision to order the disbarment of Mr Rosario was appropriate in the circumstances. A criminal conviction for sexual assault is clearly incompatible with the high standards expected of the bar.