‘I waited 46 years to speak out about medic assault’

A MAN who claims he was indecently assaulted by a retired surgeon has said he has waited more than four decades to speak out about what happened to him.

Michael Shine, 85, pictured below, denies eight charges of indecently assaulting teenage boys between 1964 and 1991, at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and his private clinic, both in Drogheda, Co. Louth.

On the third day of his trial, a second complainant said he was aged around 17 some time in 1971 when he was injured in a motorbike accident. He was initially treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, and returned some time later to attend the outpatient unit to have his wound dressing treated and changed, it was heard.

He said Dr Shine met him in a treatment cubicle and that during the appointment the former surgeon indecently assaulted him.

The complainant said a few days later he met his then girlfriend, who is now his wife, and told her ‘exactly what happened’.

He said: ‘She just looked at me in amazement.’ Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, told the witness his client had no memory of seeing him during this time and put it to him that ‘nothing untoward’ had happened.

The witness replied: ‘I waited 46 years and I am telling the truth. That man assaulted me. I’m 100% certain of that.’ The witness denied going to a psychiatrist in relation to a civil claim. He said that he contacted the Dignity For Patients group because he wanted ‘justice for what Dr Shine had done to me’.

A third complainant testified that he was aged 18 in early 1976 when he attended the same hospital with injuries from a traffic collision.

He was treated for a broken wrist, stitches to the head and a leg and finger injury, it was heard. While attending an outpatient unit the complainant was treated by Dr Shine and alleges he was indecently assaulted by him. The trial continues at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.