Karabus has to wait 2 more weeks
2013-03-22 07:27
Johannesburg - Professor Cyril Karabus will have to wait
before returning home as the prosecution in the United Arab Emirates has 14
days to appeal his court ruling, The Star reported on Friday.
Karabus's legal team was optimistic and believed an appeal
was highly unlikely following the UAE's court findings on Thursday.
He was found not guilty on charges of manslaughter and
falsifying documents after the death of a 3-year-old cancer patient in his
care.
He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to three years in
jail.
Speaking from Abu Dhabi after hearing his fate, Karabus told
the newspaper he was feeling "much better".
"I'm very happy about it. It has been a long and a hard
time."
Karabus, 77, who has a heart condition and suffered angina
attacks last week, wants to leave UAE "as soon as possible".
But he was told he may have to wait up to two weeks, and
said that as far as speeding up procedures was concerned, "you cannot push
anyone in this country".
International relations department spokesperson Clayson
Monyela said on Thursday: "As the South African government we are quite
pleased that finally he is a free man."
Karabus is an emeritus professor at the University of Cape
Town and a specialist paediatric oncologist.
Unaware of the charges and sentence, he was arrested and
charged in Dubai on 18 August last year, while in transit on his return to
South Africa from Toronto, in Canada, where he had attended his son's wedding.
- SAPA
