Doctor, cook and supervisor found guilty in D'Souza food poisoning case

Dubai: A court ruled on Tuesday that a doctor, a restaurant cook and a supervisor were liable for the death of five-year-old Nathan D'Souza and his seven-year-old sister, Chelsea, who died of food poisoning in 2009.

The Dubai Misdemeanours Court fined the three, a 46-year-old Iraqi doctor, a 25-year-old Nepalese cook and a 33-year-old Filipino supervisor, Dh10,000 each for their negligence and mistakenly causing the deaths of Nathan and Chelsea.

"The defendants will also have to jointly pay blood money to the victims' parents," said presiding judge Jamal Mohammad Al Jubaily in his verdict on Monday.

The doctor's advocate, Mohammad Rashid Al Suwaidi, and lawyer Hussain Al Bannai, who is defending the cook and the supervisor, said they will appeal the judgment.

According to the arraignment sheet, prosecutors said the cook and the supervisor were charged with violating the public health requirements of Dubai Municipality through unhygienic practices in preserving food, which led to bacterial contamination.

The doctor was charged with negligence in providing medical care to the children when they were admitted to hospital after eating a meal from the restaurant.

The three suspects pleaded not guilty and refuted their charges in court.

Al Suwaidi had earlier told the court that the two children may actually have died of foul play, thus eliminating the possibility of negligence by the doctor.

"The forensic doctor who carried out the autopsy confirmed that there was Lidocaine toxicity in the children's bodies. Lidocaine is a form of anaesthetic. The medical reports from the two hospitals where the children were admitted confirmed that they were not given Lidocaine," argued Al Suwaidi before the court.

‘Foul play'

"There could have been foul play… between the times when the children were discharged from the first hospital until they were readmitted to the second hospital where they died; they were under the housemaid's supervision. Have they been murdered? I cannot implicate anyone but it is up to the prosecutors to investigate whether there was any criminal act in this case," he added.

Al Suwaidi contended before Judge Al Jubaily that his client had provided professional care to the children, their mother and housemaid. The lawyer questioned where the Lidocaine had come from.

The Iraqi doctor said Lidocaine was an anaesthetic which cannot be administered to children under 12 due to its effect on the heart.

"It was obvious that my client rendered the necessary medical care to the children to treat their food poisoning. The children were discharged and allowed to go home … on condition that if their health situation deteriorated, they would be brought back to hospital. The investigating medical committee confirmed that the children did not die of medical negligence," defended Al Suwaidi.