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A mother allegedly faked cancer to raise £ 45,000 from supporters which she later squandered on overseas holidays and trips to Premier League football matches, a court heard.
Nicole Elkabbass is accused of using the alleged ill-gotten gains to spend on overseas excursions and tickets to Tottenham Hotspur, as well as restaurants and “intense gambling”.
Elkabbass, 42, allegedly created a GoFundMe page posing as an ovarian cancer victim, allegedly complete with a photo of her injured in a hospital bed.
Prosecutor Ben Irwin described today how the page ‘Nicole needs our help treatments’ described the mother of a son, Elkabbass, as a “beautiful daughter” and a “loving mother” who was “recently diagnosed.”
It came with a photo showing Elkabbass as fragile, lying on her back in a hospital bed under a blanket, with her eyes closed and her mouth open.
But the photo was taken after she had an operation to remove her gallbladder, the court heard.
(Image: KMG / SWNS.COM)
Irwin told a court that the ploy was a ruse to prop up his lavish lifestyle, which included shelling out £ 3,592 on Spurs tickets and “gambling a lot online.”
He told a jury at Canterbury Crown Court: “Well, the jurors, in short, were lies.
“She did not use that money for cancer treatment. The money he received was, in fact, for a variety of things: many were dedicated to the game, many to travel, many to Tottenham Hotspur tickets.
“There she is apparently injured and in her hospital bed, looking very bad, ladies and gentlemen of the jury.
“Well, another lie, because that photo came from a completely different procedure when Miss Elkabbass had an operation to remove her gallbladder.”
In testing, Elkabbass’s former friend, consulting gynecologist Nicholas Humphrey Morris, denied his claims that he diagnosed him with cancer.
(Image: pixel8000)
In fact, the doctor told the jury that it was Elkabbass who informed him that he had fallen ill and, upon learning that he had created a crowdfunding page, he suspected a crime.
She explained that she recognized the hospital in the photo, from its distinctive bedside wallpaper, such as Spencer Hospital in Margate, Kent, where she had been treated for a separate operation two years earlier.
Morris added: “She has never been a patient of mine and has never been to see me in any hospital or clinic where I work.”
The prosecution claims that Elkabbass organized the photo and claimed that all donations (39 in total) would go through the Ramsgate Jewish Synagogue.
But Rabbi Clifford Cohen, who is expected to testify later in the trial, claims he has never heard of her, the court heard.
The defendant, who is represented by Oliver Kirk, is expected to argue that she honestly believed she had the disease. His case has yet to be heard, but he denies the charges.
Elkabbass, of Broadstairs, Kent, faces two counts of fraud related to money he received between February and August 2018.
Dressed in a black and white striped blouse with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she interrupted the process four times, prompting brusque responses from Judge Mark Weekes.
“You will have your turn, Miss Elkabass,” he told the defendant.
Elkabass denies a charge of fraud and possession of criminal property, namely charitable donations.
The trial continues.
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