A juror stood down yesterday after he said he played tennis with one of the witnesses in the trial in which Dr Emad Massoud and his wife are on trial for trying to defraud insurance companies in relation to breast cancer.
The witness was a former medical friend of the couple on trial charged with a €700,000 insurance fraud, who claimed he never performed surgery on the woman and did not know that she had breast cancer as she later claimed.
Mohamed Hilal, a consultant surgeon, also swore in evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he never signed any medical documentation or filled out any insurance claim forms on behalf of the couple.
Dr Emad Massoud (50) and Gehan Massoud (43), a nurse, Brownstown, Ratoath, Co Meath, have pleaded not guilty to intent to defraud two insurance companies by falsely claiming that Ms Massoud had suffered breast cancer and that there was an obligation on them to settle serious illness claims.
They deny intent to defraud Scottish Provident Ltd of €685,658 on March 25th, 2002, through having that amount made payable to Permanent TSB, and Lifetime Assurance Company Ltd of €45,338 on February 22nd, 2002, by having that sum transferred to their account at the Bank of Ireland in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
It was day six of the hearing during which a juror was discharged after he told the court that he played tennis with Mr Hilal.
Judge Patrick McCartan thanked the juror for bringing that to the court's attention and told him that what he had done was "very important".
Judge McCartan said that Mr Hilal was an important witness in the case and it would be "unfair" to ask the juror "to deal with in your mind where the truth lies" and to avoid any discomfort to him, he was asking him to leave the panel.
"Justice must be done but it must also be seen to be done," said Judge McCartan before he asked the rest of the jurors to retire to consider if they were satisfied that each of them could collectively and individually continue to deal with the case in a fair and an objective manner.
The panel returned after a few minutes and the foreman indicated that the jury was "happy" to continue.