There was bubbly for Professor Cyril Karabus when he heard he'd been acquitted, but he's not heading home just yet.
|||Cape Town - There was a bottle of bubbly for Professor Cyril Karabus when he heard he’d been acquitted of manslaughter in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday (UAE), but he’s not heading home just yet.
His Cape Town lawyer, Michael Bagraim, has warned that the prosecutor has 10 days to lodge an appeal.
“While we wait for them to decide whether to appeal or not, we can’t get Karabus’s passport back. But it’s unlikely they will as they didn’t say anything after the verdict was handed out.”
While the family are hoping the paediatric oncologist will be home in time for his 78th birthday on April 1, Bagraim said it could take a fortnight.
And he said he had asked Deputy Minister of International Relations Marius Fransman to put pressure on the UAE to release Karabus’s passport. “We are going as fast as we can to bring him home. It’s been a stressful time and Karabus’s heart has taken a lot of strain.”
But on Thursday was a day for celebration. Bagraim said: “He and fellow South African Dr Elwin Buchel have purchased a bottle of bubbly. We are still smiling. A true feeling for Human Rights Day.”
Karabus was arrested in Dubai after travelling back from his son Matthew’s wedding in Canada on August 18. He was left with just his toothbrush. It emerged that Karabus, who had spent five weeks working as a locum at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi, had been convicted of manslaughter in absentia after the death in 2002 of a three-year-old Yemeni girl suffering from leukaemia.
Karabus was accused of failing to give her a vital blood transfusion.
But earlier this week, after a seven-month ordeal, Karabus heard the UAE Medical Commission had absolved him of any wrongdoing. The decision was confirmed by an Abu Dhabi court on Thursday.
Karabus’s other son, Michael, told the Cape Argus on Thursday: “It’s almost too good to be true. It’s been seven months of nothing and then all of a sudden it’s over.”
He heard the news from his dad at about 9.30am on Thursday. “He wasn’t in the courtroom when they delivered the verdict; he was outside waiting to go in. He was tried in absentia and given his freedom also in absentia.”
His siblings are travelling from Canada and London to prepare for his homecoming. Michael said they hoped his father would be home for his birthday.
Fransman told the Cape Argus Karabus’s freedom was a result of South African “solidarity”.
“We are overjoyed it’s finalised. There was tremendous solidarity between civil society, the media, business and government.”
Also waiting to see Karabus will be his two-month old grandson Gabriel. Karabus was to have assisted at the birth. Karabus’s daughter, Dr Sarah Karabus, a paediatrician, said her father would have a medical check-up before he left Abu Dhabi to make sure he is fit to fly.
nontando.mposo@inl.co.za
Cape Argus