Cape Town -
He was accused of killing a small child, held in three jails, shackled, and kept from his home for nine months, but none of that mattered on Friday as Professor Cyril Karabus returned home to a hero’s welcome, and was finally reunited with his family.
Karabus, a paediatric oncologist and professor emeritus at UCT, had been tried and found guilty in absentia following the 2002 death of a Yemeni child he treated while working as a locum doctor. Never told of the charges, he was caught by surprise when he was arrested in transit, having just returned from his son’s wedding in Canada.
And so began a nine-month ordeal characterised by bureaucratic bungling and confusion.
At the airport on Friday, he commented on being charged with killing a child despite having dedicated his life to saving them: “It’s pretty unique. It’s the first time I’ve been accused of murdering a child.”
While the ordeal took nine months, Karabus said he was comforted by the fact that he knew he was innocent, that the charge against him was false, and that he would – finally – get home again.
“I knew the whole thing was rubbish,” he said.
Hundreds of people gathered at Cape Town International Airport to welcome him home. And it was an emotional family reunion as Karabus met his new grandson for the first time.
Of staying upbeat while he was detained in the UAE, he said the ordeal had been harder on his wife and children:
“I’m a fairly stable and unfeeling person, if you can call it that. So I seemed to cruise along, but this had more of an impact on my wife and my kids.”
But he admitted the “ups and downs” had been hard.
“There were dreadful ups and downs. Just when you think things are going well, then something changes,” he said.
After his arrest, Karabus was retried and found not guilty, but the state appealed, prolonging his stay. Court appearances were scheduled then cancelled, and finally another judge ordered that the appeal not be heard late last month. But then there was an ordeal getting his passport back, and once he had it in his hand, ready to fly, a visa bungle delayed him yet again.
Paging through his South African passport, he points out the visa.
“There was a problem because they said that when I entered the country, my arrival had not been captured,” he explained.
It was later discovered that his arrival had in fact been captured.
“There was nothing wrong. They just screwed up,” he said.
Karabus was held in three separate jails for a total of 57 nights. For the rest of the time, he stayed with South African doctor and painter Elwin Duchel, unable to leave the country.
“When he offered me a place to stay, I don’t think he knew he would be accommodating me for seven months,” Karabus laughed.
But he was so grateful for Duchel’s kindness that he urged people to buy his paintings.
The jails, though, “weren’t as unpleasant as I’d expected”.
The worst had been at the Abu Dhabi Airport, where he was held in a small room with a bench to sleep on.
For his wife Jenifer, the worst part was seeing her husband in shackles.
“When you see your husband in ankle shackles it’s not nice,” she said, shaking her head.
His arrest and the nine months he spent there had changed her life, she said.
“My family became fractured over this. Our tempers were on edge all the time.”
And now there would be more change – but for the better.
“My life will change again. I’m going to have to start cooking dinners again,” she laughed.
The couple have been married almost 40 years, and looking at him on Friday, she declared: “I wouldn’t mind putting up with him for a few more years.”
Daughter Sarah Karabus said they had no plans other than to spend time together.
“We’re going to catch up. We’re all going to go home together.”
Karabus, who struggled with boredom in Abu Dhabi, said he was looking forward to “being free”.
At the top of his list is “walking in the garden and getting closer to Table Mountain”.
On Saturday he thanked everyone who had been involved in trying to secure his release.
Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Marius Fransman paid tribute to the Karabus family, saying it had been their tenacity that had secured the release.
Despite the way the matter was handled, Fransman said South Africa was still “committed to maintaining our cordial diplomatic and trade relations with the UAE”.
Karabus’s South African attorney, Michael Bagraim, said he was grateful for the support of the media and the medical fraternity, which had helped when legal processes were taking him “nowhere”.
“I just feel like crying,” he said.
Dr Iqbal Surve, chairman of the Sekunjalo group, also travelled to Dubai in a bid to use his contacts there to secure Karabus’s release.
Surve, who trained under Karabus at the UCT medical school, said on Friday: “Cyril was always innocent, and that’s what counted.”
Weekedn Argus