Trial hears victims had ‘flashbacks’ of assault
TRIAL CONTINUES OF RETIRED SURGEON AS VICTIMS GIVE HARROWING EVIDENCE
A man has told the trial of a surgeon accused of groping a number of boys in his care that he woke up in hospital one day to find the doctor ‘masturbating me.’
Michael Shine (86) of Ballsbridge, Dublin has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to thirteen charges of indecent assault allegedly committed during medical examinations at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth and at two private clinics in Drogheda.
On the fourth day of the trial, a man told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that he began experiencing stomach cramps when he was 10 years old. He was aged around 11 when later referred to Mr Shine at Lourdes hospital in early 1974.
The man said he was brought into a room by a nurse and left on his own with Mr Shine. He was asked to undress down to his underpants and put on a hospital gown so that he could be examined.
He said that Mr Shine first examined his throat, torso and abdomen, before taking his underpants down and placing one hand on his penis and one hand on his scrotum and ‘palpitated’ them both.
‘I looked at a spot on the ceiling because I found it most uncomfortable,’ the man said. He said the defendant groped his testicles and it felt as though he was pulling his foreskin down.
He said that it felt like it lasted forever and that he wanted to scream but was unable to speak.
The man said that after he finished, Mr Shine told him that he was a ‘nice boy’ and went to speak to his parents who were sitting outside the room. He said Mr Shine told his parents that he had to perform a rectal examination on their son and returned to the room, closing the door behind him.
He said Mr Shine asked him to raise his knees up so that he was ‘almost in a foetal position’. He said that Mr Shine inserted a gloved finger into his anus and his other hand began ‘palpitating’ his genitals again.
The man said that after he finished Mr Shine removed his gloves, told him that he was a ‘good boy’ and patted him on the head.
He said that a number of months later that year he ‘fainted’ while walking his dog and was rushed to Lourdes hospital. He said that he stayed in hospital for 20 days and that on third day he underwent surgery.
The man said that Mr Shine would carry out examinations on his wound from surgery and that every time he did so he would go on to ‘palpitate’ his penis and scrotum.
‘I used to just look out the glass window, there was a flashing light miles away and I would focus on the light until he was finished,’ the man said.
He said that Mr Shine did this every day up until the day he was discharged from hospital. He said there was no particular time of day that this happened and that it could occur in the morning,
the afternoon or at night.
The man told the court that he was aged 19 in 1982 when he was admitted to hospital with meningitis. He said that he woke up in hospital one day to discover Mr Shine had his hand on his penis and that he was ‘masturbating me.’
The man agreed with Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, that he had brought civil proceedings relating to the alleged offences and said that the proceedings had concluded in 2012.
Mr Hartnett asked the witness if he drank much alcohol and he answered he was proud to say that he had not drank since 2004. He totally refuted Mr Hartnett’s suggestion that none of what he had described had happened and that he was mistaken in his recollection of events.
The retired surgeon was also accused of groping the genitals of a teenage patient with whom he played chess in hospital.
On the third day of the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial, one complainant told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting, that he was hit by a car during the summer of 1972 when he was aged 14 and that he required surgery on his right knee.
The man said that Mr Shine was his consultant during his stay at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital and that he would come to his room in the evening time to play chess with him. After being released from hospital following his surgery the man attended an appointment at Fair Street Clinic, Fair Street, Drogheda.
He said that Mr Shine released his belt and zipper and that his trousers and underwear were pulled down. He said that Mr Shine began ‘playing with’ and ‘fondling’ his genitals and stroking his penis.
The man said that when he asked Mr Shine why he was doing this, he replied
that ‘you could tell a lot this way’. He said he did not think that Mr Shine ever examined his knee.
He said that he felt depressed after the incident and had not known what to do.
When asked by Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, if he was a heavy drinker, the man said that ‘depends what you call a heavy drinker’ and said he drank a few pints a week. He accepted Mr Hartnett’s assertion that he previously said he could sometimes drink 10 to 12 pints in a night.
The man agreed with Mr Hartnett that he was involved in a civil case against Mr Shine. He said that he became involved with the civil case approximately two years ago and that he first went to gardaí regarding the alleged offences in 2002.
He did not accept Mr Hartnett’s suggestion that the games of chess had not happened and that Mr Shine does not play chess.
Earlier in the trial, another complainant told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that when he was 15 he was referred by his GP to Mr Shine at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital due to tearing his foreskin during sexual intercourse.
The man said that during an examination on his injury, Mr Shine began to masturbate him for five to ten minutes, ending with him squeezing his penis. Mr Shine said that he should come back to undergo circumcision, but the man said he never went back.
He said that he felt ‘ low, a bit shocked’ after the exam and that he had not known if it was right or wrong. He said he went unaccompanied to the hospital and that he did not tell his parents about the appointment as he should not have been having sex at that age.
The man agreed with Mr Hartnett that he was also involved in a civil case seeking damages from Mr Shine. He said that he began taking part in the civil case after he had already met with gardaí regarding the alleged offences.
Another man had told the trial that he experiences ‘flashbacks’ of being masturbated during an examination.
On the sixth day of the trial, a man told Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, that Mr Shine masturbated his penis during an examination in 1975 when he was aged 13. The court heard that examination took place following surgery by Mr Shine on his testicles.
The witness told Mr Hartnett that his father brought him to the examination, but he was not in the room with him while it was carried out.
The man said that he began experiencing ‘flashbacks’ to the incident after making a complaint to gardaí. He said he had never told anyone about the incident aside from his wife until he gave a statement to gardaí.
The man said that the incident had never left his memory and he had ‘ tried to get on with’ his life. He said that when he gave a statement to gardaí he had to bring the memories to the forefront of his mind and that it was a traumatic experience.
Mr Hartnett asked the man if he had a long history of abusing alcohol and he replied that he probably drank more than is recommended. He added that if that was what constituted alcohol abuse then it was ‘safe to say I do have an abusive relationship with alcohol’.
He refuted Mr Hartnett’s suggestion that he was incorrect in his assertion that Mr Shine had masturbated his penis, saying that it ‘categorically did happen.’ The man told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that he did not object to Mr Shine examining his testicles as this was the area that Mr Shine had performed surgery on.