A retired surgeon has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two boys at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and his private clinic.

Yesterday, Dr Michael Shine of Wellington Road in Dublin 4 was cleared of groping three other boys.

Dr Shine, who is now 85, had strongly denied the charges and told the jury he’d never do anything to upset a patient.

He worked as a general surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda from 1964 to 1995 and he also had a private clinic on nearby Fair Street.

When the trial opened over two weeks ago, he pleaded not guilty to eight charges of indecent assault against six boys between 1964 and 1991.

Each of the complainants gave evidence and yesterday he was cleared of four charges of indecent assault against three of them.

Earlier in the trial, Mr Justice Paul McDermott directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict in relation to one complainant.

Dr Shine was found guilty of indecently assaulting the remaining two at 12pm this afternoon.

He was found to have inappropriately touched a young boarder on two separate occasions between 1974 and 1975.

It happened at his private clinic where the boy had attended for follow-up examinations after having a procedure in the hospital for a hernia.

The second boy was just 16 and also in boarding school when he was groped while being treated for an ingrown toe nail.

That happened at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital sometime between 1975 and 1976.

During his evidence, he said he was effectively tied down to a bed and he described how Dr. Dr Shine slipped his hand under the blanket.

He told the jury he found it “completely and utterly bizarre” because he couldn't see it as having anything to do with his toes.

As part of his defence Dr Shine said he would never do anything to embarrass or upset a patient.

He claimed he had no memory of treating four of the boys and the court heard there were no records linking three of them to him.

He was remanded on continuing bail today ahead of his sentence hearing on December 1st.