The sister of the woman at the centre of the London High Court "Indecent Proposal" slander case told a jury yesterday that Irish millionaire Mr Brian Maccaba had asked her to marry him.
Ms Daniella Smudga (24), a fitness instructor, was giving evidence via video link from her home in Jerusalem during businessman Mr Maccaba's slander action against a senior rabbi. Her sister, Ms Nathalie Attar (35), whose teacher husband Mr Alain Attar was allegedly offered a million dollars for her by Mr Maccaba, claims he tried to destabilise her marriage and twice sexually harassed her. Mr Maccaba (46) is suing Rabbi Dayan Yaakov Lichtenstein for allegedly spreading "poisonous" slurs that he was a "sexual predator" and a "serial adulterer" who chased young married Jewish women.
Mrs Smudga alleged that Mr Maccaba proposed to her during a lift home in Jerusalem in the autumn of 1999. She said he had talked about having a problem with his wife and that he was considering divorce. Mrs Smudga, who was 19 and single at the time told the court: "He said 'Would you marry somebody older than you. Would you marry me?"' She said she was "shocked" by what he had said. - (PA)