The trial opened at Castlebar Circuit Court yesterday of a doctor accused of the sexual assault of a nurse. The doctor is a locum who provided cover, on an irregular basis, at Mayo General Hospital. The nurse, in evidence before Judge Harvey Kenny, said that on July 12th, 1998, she entered a scanning room in the hospital to retrieve a scanning machine for an ultrasound test on a patient. The room was unlit. She found a lamp and switched it on and then reached behind the scanning machine to see where the lead was plugged in.
"As I was bent down, I heard the sound of a door and the noise sounded like the `click' was put on. When I was trying to come up, I was grabbed from behind. I struggled, but there was an arm behind my head restricting my head. Another arm was fumbling on my chest area. I then saw it was Dr X.
"He put his mouth against my lips and started kissing me, using his tongue very forcefully. I tried to break away using my arms against his chest.
She said the doctor fumbled in her breast area with his hand. She told him to stop, but he didn't, and kissed her again at least three or four times until she pushed him away. She said she asked why he did it and he replied, "don't tell me you didn't enjoy that."
The nurse agreed she did not lodge an official complaint until some six months later.
Mr Padraig O'Huigeann SC, defending, put it to the nurse that his client would say she had been flirtatious with him; that she had bleeped him to come back to the hospital seven or eight times, all for routine matters.
Mr O'Huigeann suggested that the reason for this was to show off to a patient that she could bring a professional of his standing back to see her.
"Absolutely not," the nurse said.
The case resumes today.