Garda abused by Shine as boy recalls ‘life of pain’
A FORMER garda, who was preyed on by Michael Shine as a boy, has told a court that he was ‘handed a life sentence of pain’ by the sex predator.
Patrick Cusack, 56, revealed that he was unable to sleep properly for 45 years after his childhood ordeal at the hands of the struck-off former surgeon, who had a drink thrown over him by an unidentified member of the public on his way into court yesterday morning.
The father of eight, from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, is one of seven survivors who Shine, 86, was convicted earlier this month of groping over a 21-year period.
He was first targeted by Shine in 1974 when he was only 11, the court previously heard.
He decided to waive his anonymity yesterday so his identity could be revealed.
His highly charged victim impact statement from the witness box at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court brought even some court officials to tears.
Yesterday, Shine sat expressionless in the dock, hunched over, with his hands clasped together on the ledge in front of him.
Dressed in a cream-coloured jumper, white shirt, navy trousers and black shoes, he stared straight ahead while Mr Cusack recalled he’d been a ‘happy-go-lucky’ 11year-old before he required medical attention from Shine.
Later in life, he became a garda and had wanted a ‘lengthy career’, he explained, but he left the force after two years because he felt he ‘wasn’t thinking straight’, and might be at risk of unfairly bringing his own past traumas to bear on his work.
Mr Cusack then spent 20 years in psychiatric nursing, from which he retired in 2009.
He now does voluntary work helping people suffering from addiction and other issues.
Holding back tears, he told Judge Nolan: ‘My life was turned upside down at the hands of Mr Shine... He handed me a life sentence of pain, hurt, turmoil, anguish and shame, a result of my innocence being taken away from me by a person who was in a position of trust in 1974.
‘The experiences I went through will be, until the day I die, burnt into my memory and are as vivid today as the days they were carried out on me.’
He later added: ‘I’ve not experienced a proper night’s sleep for 45 years – until last weekend after the verdicts came back into this court.’
Turning to face Shine, Mr Cusack said: ‘I don’t see this man as an 86-year-old man. I see him as the man in his late 30s who came to me aged 11. I feel no anger towards him. It’s more frustration that this has taken so long to resolve. At last, there can be closure to a certain degree.’
‘I feel no anger towards him’
Judge Martin Nolan postponed his final decision on Shine’s punishment until Monday, after Shine’s lawyers asked if it would be fair to send an 86-year-old who’s suffered ‘significant opprobrium in the press’ to jail.
His barrister Hugh Hartnett SC also complained: ‘Today he was attacked on the steps of the courthouse. Liquid or some other substance was thrown at him as he entered the court.’
Mr Hartnett urged the judge to consider not imprisoning Shine on grounds of his old age and health problems.
But State prosecutor Kathleen Noctor SC argued that old age is ‘not in any way a bar to a custodial penalty’.
Judge Nolan said he wanted to consider relevant case law about jailing elderly offenders over the weekend before giving a decision.
He let Shine leave on bail and ordered him to return to court on Monday.
Shine, from Wellington Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, was driven away from the Criminal Courts of Justice complex in a black Mercedes estate.
Having pleaded not guilty, Shine was convicted on February 8 by a jury of 13 charges involving seven victims. The charges spanned a period from 1971 to 1992.
He was brought back to court for sentencing yesterday, when the court was told about his previous November 2017 conviction for indecently assaulting two young male patients.
For that, he got a 20-month jail sentence. But he spent only 20 days behind bars before getting out on bail pending his appeal on age and health grounds.
He has remained on bail since December 21, 2017. That appeal will be heard next month.
Shine was struck off the medical register in 2009, having lost a 2006 High Court bid to stop a Medical Council inquiry into his conduct.
He has always denied any suggestion of wrongdoing.
paul.caffrey@dailymail.ie