Karabus likely to be home this week

DR CYRIL Karabus could be on a flight back home from the United Arab Emirates as early as Tuesday.

The ailing 77-year-old emeritus professor from the University of Cape Town was acquitted on a charge of manslaughter by an Abu Dhabi court on Thursday.

Karabus ’ s Cape Town-based lawyer, Michael Bagraim, confirmed yesterday that a temporary aeroplane ticket would be booked for Karabus tomorrow.

“We are hoping that Dr Karabus flies back to South Africa on Tuesday or Wednesday and we are getting indications that it might be the possibility. I am hoping to find out today whether he can travel back either on Monday or Tuesday,” he said.

He said that the deputy minister of international relations, Marius Fransman, was working to ensure that Karabus’s passport was returned to him by tomorrow.

Bagraim said lawyers representing Karabus in the UAE “strongly believed” that the prosecution would not lodge an appeal against his acquittal. They have 14 days to do so.

But Bagraim expressed reservations about whether Karabus would be able to collect his R250 000 bail money before he left. This will only be paid out if there is no indication that an appeal is going to be lodged.

“We instructed him that as soon as he gets his passport he must return, never mind the bail money. I am not taking any further risks.”

Bagraim said the issue of whether he would be getting the money had created a “moral dilemma” for Karabus, because he was desperate to return it to the businessman who had put up the bail.

“But he’s agreed with me that, as soon as he gets the passport, he will leave despite the fact he might be leaving the bail money behind.”

Bagraim said the businessman was adamant that he did not want the money back. “He doesn’t want it to be factor in retarding [Karabus’s] return.”

Karabus has been in the UAE since August last year after being detained in connection with the death of a young cancer patient a decade ago. He was arrested while in transit in Dubai.

A spokesman for the Department of International Relations, Clayson Monyela, confirmed yesterday that Fransman was working with his UAE counterpart to get Karabus ’ s passport returned to him.

Karabus, meanwhile, celebrated his acquittal by having two large glasses of whisky after returning to his flat from court. It was the first time in his life that he had a drink so early in the day, but “it was worth it”.

The doctor said he was hoping to celebrate his 78th birthday with his family in Cape Town on April 1. Apart from holding his new grandson when he gets home, one of the first things he would most like to do was take a drive to Table Mountain, he said.