Doctor Accused of Injecting Mother's Partner with Flesh Eating Bacteria Under Guise of COVID Shot

Mar. 15, 2025

Generic image of a senior man getting COVID-19 vaccine in hospital.Photo:Getty

Getty

Dr. Thomas Kwan, 53, allegedly injected Patrick O’Hara, 72, with the fake shot under the disguise of a community nurse in an “audacious” plan over concerns about his inheritance on Jan. 22, a court heard on Thursday, Oct. 3, perThe Guardian,BBCandSky News.

Kwan sent two fake doctor’s letters stating that O’Hara was due for a home visit for his Covid-19 injection, the outlets added. He then checked himself into a hotel under a false name at 2.45 a.m. on the day of the visit, before later heading to his mother Jenny Leung’s house posing as a nurse.

Kwan, who is a partner at a doctor’s surgery in Sunderland, England, allegedly spent 45 minutes at the property as he carried out medical tests and administered the fake booster on O’Hara.

He reportedly said in court that he administered the shot in an attempt to create “no more than mild pain and discomfort.”

Closeup view of an adult medical worker preparing a COVID-19 vaccine.Getty

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,The Guardian, BBC and Sky News reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes this as a “flesh-eating disease” that “can develop very quickly into a life-threatening emergency”. Early symptoms include “fever, severe pain, and an infection that spreads quickly.”

Prosecutor Peter Makepeace said in court, per the outlets, “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.”

According to reports, jurors were told that Leung named her longtime partner O’Hara in her will so he could remain in her house. This decision put a “strain” on her relationship with her son, per Sky News.

Kwan has reportedly denied attempted murder and a second charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, however, he did plead guilty to administering a noxious substance, per multiple outlets.

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PEOPLE has contacted the Newcastle Crown Court for further comment. The trial continues.

source: people.com