MAN TELLS COURT HE GOT €70K HOSPITAL COMPO...
Doctor denies sex assaults on 6 boys
AN alleged victim of a retired surgeon accused of indecently assaulting six boys told a jury he received €70,000 in compensation from the hospital. Dr Michael Shine denies eight sexual abuse charges at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and at his private clinic, both in Drogheda, Co Louth, on dates between 1964 and 1991. On Tuesday the first complainant, now 65, testified at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that while attending in 1964 with a chest cyst, Dr Shine massaged his testicles. Yesterday, the accused’s lawyer Hugh Hartnett SC, put it to him there was a campaign against the accused, run by a woman called Bernadette Sullivan. He said there was a lot of publicity around this including adverts and talks on local radio asking anybody who had been treated by Dr Shine, of Wellington Road, Dublin 4, to come forward to make complaints. The witness said he called a number provided by local radio and later met with the organisation run by Ms Sullivan. Mr Hartnett submitted the group arranged for the witness to meet with gardai and to get a solicitor to arrange for actions for damages against the hospital. The complainant agreed a civil claim had been pursued. Counsel asked him if he was advised during an “advocacy meeting” on how best to present or not present his case. The witness, who is legally entitled to anonymity, said he could not answer this and “it was just an ordinary meeting”. He told prosecution lawyer Bernard Condon SC, he met the “Dignity For Patients” group around four or five times before going to gardai. The complainant said he was not under any influence to go to gardai, saying “it was my decision”. He said in a civil case he received €70,000 from the hospital with no admission of liability about five years ago. He had never received compensation from the defendant. The witness said he had no financial benefit now or into the future from being in court. He told the jury that at one stage he considered withdrawing his complaint to gardai. Mr Hartnett put it to him that his reason for considering doing so was there was no basis for it. The witness said this was wrong. The trial continues before Judge Cormac Quinn and a jury of four men and eight women and is expected to last two weeks.