A personal trainer, convicted of a “predatory” sexual assault on a woman who sought treatment for chronic back problems, secretly filmed 35 other women topless as he gave them massages at his gym, it emerged on Friday.
Shane Flynn (35) who owns and runs NGS Gym & Rehabilitation Clinic, now known as Recode in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, and has a large social media following, will be sentenced at a future date.
He was remanded on bail, with “stringent” conditions, by Judge Ronan Munro, who said there was a “predatory aspect to the crimes committed”.
Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court heard on Friday that 18 hours of video footage on Flynn’s laptop showed him making suggestive remarks to women and massaging their breasts.
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Gardai could not identify the women in the videos, which did not feature any non-consensual behaviour, and Judge Munro noted that they were not shared or distributed.
Flynn, with an address at Dalystown, Mullingar, denied sexually assaulting a woman in January 2021 but had admitted a second charge for offensive conduct of a sexual nature by making covert digital recordings of females without their knowledge or consent at his gym from July 2018 until August 2020.
The case will be listed in December to set his sentence hearing date.
Following a six-day trial, a jury of nine men and three women convicted him of sexually assaulting the woman after she went to an appointment at his gym named NGS (Next Gen Speed) at Westside House in Mullingar.
In evidence, the woman told the jury that she played sports and had got help for her long-term scoliosis and severe back pain.
Jurors heard that during massage therapy, Flynn asked if the victim, who was then in her mid-20s, to remove her bra and shorts, and walked back in on her as she was taking still them off.
She alleged he told her that when she had removed her shorts, he said: “he would have taken them off me quicker”.
The trial heard that during the massage, he told the woman she was making him hard. Flynn asked if she wanted a “happy ending” massage, made a series of inappropriate comments and touched her breasts, vagina, pubic area and buttocks, leaving her terrified, before asking if it was his turn.
She testified that it was “absolutely not” similar to groin injury treatment she received previously, and she had no control of the situation lying there with no clothes other than a thong.
The woman alleged the accused told her that he would finish her off in 30 seconds with just his hands. “When I said no, he said, ‘You wouldn’t be saying that if I had my clothes off’,” she alleged.
Flynn did not testify in court, but in the account he gave gardai, he claimed he had to “shoot her down” when she got the wrong idea and “crossed the line” during the massage.
But, on Wednesday, the jury unanimously found him guilty.
On Friday, the judge said the media could now identify Flynn.
The woman did not attend the hearing on Friday, but her victim impact statement was read into the court record.
She said: “I was a paying client. I wanted to improve my fitness and strength to support my scoliosis. Instead, I was sexually assaulted, made feel incredibly uncomfortable both physically and verbally and have suffered the impact of this assault in so many ways in my life to this day. All because of the actions of Shane Flynn.”
The sexual assault can result in a maximum ten-year sentence imprisonment, while the covert recordings crime can result in a two-year jail term.
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