Cape prof’s trial adjourned in UAE

September 2012 Family handout picture of Prof Cyril Karabus currently in jail in Dubai. He was tried and sentenced in abstentia, without knowing anything about it.

September 2012 Family handout picture of Prof Cyril Karabus currently in jail in Dubai. He was tried and sentenced in abstentia, without knowing anything about it.

Published Nov 21, 2012

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The case against a Cape Town paediatric oncologist was adjourned to December after a United Arab Emirates court heard a key medical file was missing, Business Day reported on Wednesday.

The case against Cyril Karabus, 77, of Claremont, Cape Town, would continue on December 6.

At Tuesday's brief appearance Khalfan Al Kaabi, for Karabus, said the case file given to the defence had no entries after July 31, 2002.

“The case file is missing entries from that date until the day of the incident on October 19,” Al Kaabi said.

Karabus was tried and convicted in absentia in the UAE on charges of manslaughter and falsifying documents, following the death of a critically ill patient in his care.

While working at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 12 years ago the paediatrics and medical oncology specialist operated on a three-year-old cancer patient who later died of leukaemia.

He was sentenced to three years and six months in jail and required to pay “blood money” to the patient's family. He was arrested on August 18, while in transit in Dubai to South Africa. He was coming from his son's wedding in Toronto, Canada.

Business Day reported that an independent medical panel was also due to give its verdict at a hearing on whether Karabus bore responsibility for the child's death. - Sapa

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