The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a consultant surgeon and his wife against their convictions for defrauding almost €750,000 from insurance companies through a false breast cancer claim.
The three judge court, with Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Michael Hanna, today upheld the convictions of Emad and Gehan Massoud.
Dr Emad Massoud (53), Woodview, Brownstown, Ratoath, Co Meath and his wife, Gehan Massoud (46) a nurse, both originally from Alexandria in Egypt, were convicted in March 2008 by a jury at Dublin Circuit Court.
Emad Massoud was jailed for four years while a three-year suspended sentence was given to Gehan Massoud. Judge McCartan said he didn’t want the couple, who have four children, to be incarcerated at the same time.
The Massouds were found guilty of defrauding €685,658 from Scottish Provident Ltd on March 25th 2002, and €45,338 on February 22nd, 2002, from Lifetime Assurance Company Ltd by having that sum transferred to their account at the Bank of Ireland in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
The couple denied they had intended to defraud the insurance companies by falsely pretending Gehan Massoud had suffered breast cancer and the companies were obliged to settle serious illness claims.
The Massouds used a tissue sample from Gehan Massoud’s mother who had just been diagnosed in Egypt as having breast cancer and claimed that the tumour had been taken from her, it was claimed.
Both appealed against their convictions on grounds including the trial judge’s charge to the jury was unfair and favoured the prosecution.
They also disputed the validity of a production order served by the Garda on the Mater hospital in order to obtain tissue samples submitted in the names of Gehan Massoud as well as histology reports, radiology reports, medical scans and mammogram results.
Giving the CCA judgment today, Mr Justice Kearns said the appeal court was satisfied the jury “was not misled” by the various directions given by the trial judge who was entitled to make the comments complained of in his charge. The trial judge had repeatedly stressed the facts of the case were solely a matter for the jury, he added.
The CCA also ruled the search warrant was valid, was not misleading and a simple clerical error in the date on the warrant was of “no material substance.” The execution of the warrant by gardai did not violate Mr Massoud’s constitutional rights, it found.
Prior to the investigation, Emad Massoud had been working as a consultant surgeon with both the Wellman Clinic and the Nobel Clinic, which operate out of the same building in Eccles Street near Dublin city centre.