A hospital consultant accused of indecently assaulting six teenage boys had received death threats in the past over allegations of abuse, Dundalk Circuit Court was told this afternoon.
Dr Michael Shine, 72, with an address at Wellington Road in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault on six teenage boys between 1974 and 1982.
The offences are alleged to have taken place at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, and at the doctor's private consulting rooms on Fair Street, Drogheda.
At the court today, retired Garda Superintendent PJ O'Boyle, said that in November 1994 he interviewed Dr Shine about two allegations which had been made at that stage.
During that interview, the consultant said that he had received a call a year previously. The person on the phone said they would kill Dr Shine because the doctor had molested him.
Dr Shine said he did not report the incident at the time but mentioned it to a Sister in the hospital.
Supt. O'Boyle, who had travelled from Australia for the trial, said that the doctor was asked if there was any justification for the complaints. 'He thought for a minute and replied 'I don't know'', the witness said.
Doctor denied allegations
However, later Dr Shine emphatically rejected any claims that he had indecently assaulted anyone. 'I am true to myself and my conscience is clear regarding my respect for and management of patients,' he said in his statement.
He also revealed that ten years earlier he had received an anonymous letter alleging more misbehaviour.
Under cross-examination, Supt. O'Boyle said Dr Shine had been very polite and co-operative on the two occasions he had taken statements from him.
He also said that gardaí had got a medical opinion from a Dublin consultant urologist who agreed that the treatment of Patient B - one of the six complainants - was proper in the patient's circumstance.
The trial before eight women and four men resumes again in the morning.
