A doctor in the United Kingdom has admitted trying to kill his mother’s long-term partner by injecting him with a fake Covid-19 booster that caused a flesh-eating bacterial disease. According to The Guardian, 53-year-old Thomas Kwan had been a respected and experienced General Practioner (GP) in Sunderland when he devised the elaborate plan to kill Patrick O’Hara, 72, at his mother’s home on January 22. He injected the 72-year-old with the fake shot under the disguise of a community nurse. The Hong Kong-born doctor wanted to kill Mr O’Hara so he could inherit his mother’s estate when she died, a court heard on Thursday.
Initially, Mr Kwan denied attempted murder but he changed his plea on Monday this week after the prosecution opened the case against him. The Guardian reported that over several months, the 53-year-old plotted to get access to his victim using shell companies, counterfeit documents and elaborate disguises.
Kwan sent two fake doctor’s letters stating that the 72-year-old was due for a home visit for his Covid-19 injections. On the day of the visit, he then checked himself into a hotel under a false name and later headed to his mother Jenny Leung’s house posing as a nurse. He allegedly spent 45 minutes at the property as he carried out medical tests and administered the fake booster to Mr O’Hara. Kwan told the court that he administered to Mr O’Hara in an attempt to create “no more than mild pain and discomfort”.
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The outlet reported that Mr O’Hara felt “terrible pain” after the injection and went to the hospital where doctors diagnosed him with a “rare and life-threatening disease” called necrotizing fasciitis – a flesh-eating disease that can develop very quickly into a life-threatening emergency. Following the injection, he remained in intensive care for weeks as doctor cut flesh from his arm in an attempt to combat the disease.
“From November 2023 at the latest, and probably long before then, [Kwan] devised an intricate plan to kill his mother’s long-term partner Patrick O’Hara … It was a plan to murder a man in plain sight, to murder a man right in front of his own mother’s eyes,” prosecutor Peter Makepeace said in court.
According to The Guardian, jurors were told that Ms Leung named her longtime partner Mr O’Hara in her will so he could remain in her house. This decision put a “strain” on her relationship with her son.
The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, said Kwan would face a “substantial” prison term at his sentencing on 17 October.
