Pathologist to testify in deaths of children

DUBAI // A court will hear evidence from a pathologist who carried out postmortem examinations on two children who died after eating food from a Dubai restaurant last summer. Nathan D'Souza, five, and Chelsea D'Souza, seven, died in June after eating a takeaway meal from the Lotus Garden restaurant in Al Qusais. The chef, TR, and the restaurant manager, ES, have been charged with breaching hygiene standards, while ET, a 45-year-old doctor from Iraq, stands accused of medical negligence.

The accused denied the charges against them when they first appeared in the Dubai Misdemeanours Court on March 1. The defence lawyer representing the doctor, who released the children on the morning of their death, requested the testimonies of two doctors who were present at the hospital when the children were admitted, as well as testimony from the pathologist. The Lotus Garden is also named as a defendant in the case. The restaurant, which denies any wrongdoing, was allowed to reopen three months after the incident, after initially being closed by Dubai Municipality officials.

Prosecutors claimed that the meal the children consumed contained harmful bacteria after the chef and manager stored the ingredients unhygienically. The court adjourned the case to April 19. amustafa@thenational.ae