Mr Justice O'Neill has reserved judgment in the High Court on an application by a 75-year-old Cork doctor for orders preventing his prosecution on 237 charges of sexual and indecent assault against 43 female patients. The alleged offences occurred on dates from the 1960s to several years ago. The prosecutions were initiated in April 1996. Dr James Barry, of Lauriston Lodge, Glanmire, said there had been gross and inexcusable delay in initiating the prosecutions, a "pattern of abuse of the process and fundamental unfairness amounting to oppression", and a denial of his constitutional rights.