Dr Michael Shine’s trial date deferred pending judicial review

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The trial date for Dr Michael Shine, a retired consultant surgeon accused of indecent assault, will not be set until the result of a High Court judicial review. The proceedings were reported on 4 November 2014.

Dr Michael Shine, then aged 82, faced 25 counts of indecent assault against 22 alleged victims at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The alleged offences occurred between 1964 and 1990 at Our Lady’s Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, and at a clinic in the same county.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring adjourned the matter after being informed that his legal team was still awaiting the High Court judgment, with no indication of when it would be delivered. She fixed January 14th next for mention and allowed the State and defence to re-enter the case if judgment arrived sooner.

Dr Michael Shine remained on continuing bail and was excused from attending that hearing and the next because of his age. The court had previously heard that he did not always live in Ireland and had to travel for the hearings.

Dublin District Court had previously heard that he replied “not guilty” after caution when 24 charges were put to him. His response to the other charge was: “Not guilty, I was not in Ireland at the time.”