Abu Dhabi court postpones paediatric manslaughter trial
26 November 2012
A paediatrician arrested over the death of a child patient in Abu Dhabi 12 years ago has had his retrial postponed.
A hearing in the case of South African doctor Cyril Karabus has been put back to December 6 because of missing evidence.
Andrew Bristow, a colleague of Professor Karabus at the University of Cape Town, reports on Professor Karabus’s Facebook page that an important medical evidence file still has not been shown to the doctor’s legal team.
The BMA wrote to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) government last week, calling for a fair trial for Professor Karabus, who is charged with the manslaughter of a child he treated for leukaemia in 2002.
Missing notes
The letter, from BMA director of professional activities Vivienne Nathanson, points out that a medical file ordered by the court in Abu Dhabi to be reviewed by a specially appointed medical tribunal and given to Professor Karabus’s legal team did not include any of the notes taken by the doctor.
Notes made in the three weeks before the professor took over the child’s treatment have also been removed. The doctor was working as a locum in the UAE at the time.
Professor Karabus was arrested in August this year at Dubai airport while in transit to South Africa following a family wedding in Canada.
He had been convicted of manslaughter in absentia, and knew nothing of the charges against him. He was released on bail after being detained in prison for two months, and is said to be in poor health.
The World Medical Association has called for a fair trial for Professor Karabus.