A Cork dentist has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a dental nurse when he lifted up her clothing to expose her breasts.
The woman had told the trial of John Tait (60) on Tuesday that the incident happened when she was alone with Dr Tait at his surgery just two days after she started working for him.
She told how she was mortified after Tait lifted up her vest, exposing her breasts during a dental examination.
Dr Tait of Glen House, Upper Rochestown, in Cork had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the young woman at his surgery at St Patrick’s Terrace in Douglas in Cork on December 20th 2006.
The woman told Cork Circuit Criminal Court how Dr Tait had offered to examine her teeth after she told him that she had been suffering from headaches and he began to examine her in his dental chair.
She was wearing a dental nurse’s tunic, a thermal vest and her bra and Dr Tait asked her to remove her bra as he could not feel her sternum or breast bone so she went into the bathroom and took off her bra.
She returned moments later and he stood her against the wall and asked her did she mind if he unzipped her tunic at the back as he wanted to check her neck and she consented and he began feeling her spine.
He fully unzipped her tunic and it fell down around her waist and after returning her to his chair, he got her to stand up again and without her permission, lifted her vest to her neck, exposing her breasts, she said.
“I was totally exposed – he was looking at my chest – I turned away, I was shocked because I was mortified,” said the woman, adding the incident lasted less than a minute before Dr Tait told her to put on her clothes.
The woman said she agreed to take off her bra for Dr Tait to examine her because she trusted him but she was deeply upset at what happened and although she went to work the next day to get paid, she quit soon afterwards.
She sent him a letter on January 6th 2007 in which she informed him of her decision to quit, saying that she was “unhappy with the working conditions and uncomfortable with the situation in the surgery.”
A jury today found Tait guilty with a majority verdict of 11-1.
