Judge overturns dentist’s assault charges

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A dentist has successfully appealed against charges of indecent assault.

John Tait, a dentist from Cork, admitted to unbuttoning his dental nurse’s tunic and was charged with indecent assault in court in Cork in October last year; however, he has since launched an appeal against the charge and this was upheld yesterday.

Tait was originally charged with indecently assaulting a trainee dental nurse in October 2009 following an incident at his surgery on St Patrick’s Terrace in June 2008. The trainee nurse claimed that Mr Tait unbuttoned her tunic from top to bottom, exposing her underwear; Mr Tait admitted that this was true but insisted that his motive was not sexual and he was just checking that the buttons were secured properly as other nurses had problems with buttons falling off.

Judge Sean O’Donnabhain adjourned the case until yesterday so that court could hear evidence from another nurse working at the practice. Katarzyna Kisinska claimed that she had arrived at work earlier than usual on the day of the alleged incident but said that she did not see Mr Tait unbuttoning the nurse’s tunic.

Donal McCarthy, defending, said that Mr Tait’s actions were inappropriate and rude but there wasn’t any offensive intent on Tait’s behalf and therefore a charge of sexual assault was not suitable. Solicitor Frank Nyhan, prosecuting, said that the incident was “inherently indecent” and claimed that the fact that Tait continued to undo every button rendered the dentist’s actions inappropriate.

Judge O’Donnabhain said that he had given the case careful consideration and said that he would give Tait the “benefit of the doubt.”

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