A 58-year old dentist has been cleared at the district court in Cork on a charge of sexually assaulting a trainee dental nurse who was working for him.
John Tait, of Glen House, Upper Rochestown, Cork, had pleaded not guilty to a single charge of sexually assaulting the nurse at his practice at St Patrick's Terrace, Douglas, in the city.
The woman alleged that during an examination on her some weeks after beginning work with Mr Tait, he undid two buttons of her shirt, placed his hand on her chest bone and moved her breasts from side to side.
She also said Mr Tait told her that the underwire of her bra was getting in the way and asked her to remove it or to take off her shirt. She said she refused to do so.
The woman said Mr Tait started laughing and told her she did not have anything he had not seen already and she alleged that he called her a prude.
In evidence at the district court today the woman, who cannot be identified, said she was uncomfortable and quite distraught.
She said she did not do anything about the alleged assault at the time ‘out of fear’ of Mr Tait.
However, some time later she told a friend and also told the co-ordinator of her course at the Dental Hospital in Cork, Mary Harrington, about the incident.
In his evidence, Mr Tait denied conducting the examination on the woman. He also denied sexually assaulting her or doing anything inappropriate to her.
He said it just did not happen.
The nurse continued to work with Mr Tait at his practice and he said he terminated her employment less than a year after she began working with him because of a deterioration in their working relationship relating to other matters.
Dismissing the charge against Mr Tait, Judge Leo Malone said it was one of the most serious charges that could be made against a professional person and in order to convict he had to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the allegation was true.
He said, while the alleged injured party had told course co-ordinator Mary Harrington that Mr Tait had pulled down her zip, he found it extraordinary that she had not told her about the sexual assault.
He said he also found it hard to believe that the nurse had stayed in Mr Tait's employment for a long period of time after the alleged assault.
Last November Mr Tait was convicted at the same court of sexually assaulting another trainee dental nurse who was working for him.
Mr Tait is appealing that conviction.
