Sex beast surgeon Michael Shine has been freed from prison — after serving three years for sexually assaulting seven boys.
Shine, 89, was collected in a vehicle from the Midlands Prison at around 10.30am yesterday, shielded from press photographers by a closed prison gate.
In a highly unusual move, the vehicle that collected the disgraced former doctor was allowed to reverse behind a gate, where Shine then got in without being seen.
The infamous paedophile is now believed to be back living in a large, plush Dublin apartment — having served just three years behind bars for indecent and sexual assault of seven boys between 1971 and 1992.
The shamed former surgeon was jailed in 2019 for his horrific offences, and now his victims are calling for a public inquiry into how he was able to carry them out for so long.
Shine worked at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, where he was able to abuse children for decades.
A group that supports many of the victims of Shine is now calling on the Government to intervene in a row over legal fees which has derailed compensation settlements for more than 100 survivors.
The High Court previously heard that more than 100 civil actions against Shine and the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM), which ran the hospital, had been settled.
However that apparent settlement later unravelled due a dispute between the religious order’s insurer and the HSE over who should pay the costs in the case.
In a statement, Dignity4Patients, an advocacy and support organisation helping victims of Shine, called on the Government to intervene and explain why the ongoing row over costs was delaying payment of damages.
The issue was also raised in the Dail by Labour TD Ged Nash, who said: “This is a case of lawyers differing while survivors continue to suffer.
“Many of the men feel they are being re-traumatised as the legal rows rumble on, completely oblivious to their pain and suffering.”
Meanwhile, speaking to the Drogheda Independent , Pat Cusack — one of Shine’s victim’s — said the abuse completely altered his life.
“I was 11 years old, a young, happy-go-lucky boy, before my life was turned upside down at the hands of Mr Shine and the acts that he carried out on me,” Mr Cusack, who previously waived his anonymity, said.
“He handed me a life sentence of pain, hurt, turmoil, anguish and shame, that was all as a result of my innocence being taken away from me by a person who was in a position of trust in 1974, and the experiences that I went through are forever burnt into my memory until the day I die and are as vivid today as the days that they were carried out on me.”
Pat told the local paper that what he suffered has had a long-lasting negative effect on his life.
“I have had all my life experienced recurring memories, flashbacks, dreams and nightmares which triggered severe emotional stress.
“For years I tried to block out the memories by whatever means I could; as a teenager sniffing solvents and later, taking illicit drugs — never for the high, always for the mind block and the numbing of the mental anguish.
“As I got older, I drank heavy again all to block the pain,” he said.
Despite his conviction for indecent assault in 2019, Shine has never accepted his guilt and instead accused his victims of chasing compensation.
In 2017, he told the Sunday World: “I have nothing to be sorry about.”
“Of course [it’s about the money]. What age are you? Well this has been going almost as long as you’ve been alive. This is going on almost 30 years,” said Shine.
Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that another trial involving 31 complainants couldn’t go ahead because of a two-year delay in informing him of the charges.
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