Court detains quack doctor accused of defrauding kidney patient of Sh1.7m

A quack doctor who allegedly defrauded a kidney patient of Sh1,781,000 by falsely claiming to be able to facilitate his travel to India for a kidney transplant will spend a week in remand awaiting a court ruling on his bail application.

Stanley Maina Macharia was remanded in custody by Senior Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwany of the Makadara Law Courts after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), through Detective Sergeant Luke Marwa of the Kasarani DCI office, opposed bail and surety conditions for him.

Macharia was charged with obtaining the money from Daniel Mwangiru Karichu on various dates between July and August this year while falsely representing that he was in a position to facilitate his travel for the transplant, knowing this to be untrue.

Macharia allegedly defrauded Karichu while posing as a medical doctor and faces a charge of impersonation contrary to Section 382 of the Penal Code where he is accused of pretending to be medical doctor knowing that to be false in order to defraud the complainant.

The suspect also faces two charges of forgery contrary to Section 345 of the Criminal Procedure Code, where he is accused of forging an affidavit of consent purporting to be genuine documents submitted by Karichu and his kidney donor.

Karichu, who has been battling kidney disease for over 15 years, had been recommended for a transplant and was referred to Macharia, who claimed to be a doctor with connections in India, where he claimed to be able to connect him with hospitals where he could go for the same.

The respondent listed a number of documents that Karichu would need in order to make the medical trip.

The complainant was told that he needed to pay a deposit of US$26,500, before being asked to pay a further US$15,500.

Karichu began transferring money to an account provided by the suspect until he had paid the full amount. Macharia then allegedly started demanding more money for payments that he had not disclosed to Karichu when they discussed the cost of the treatment.

Karichu asked the suspect to show him some of the documents he had paid for and was given travel documents but, after visiting the Indian Embassy in Nairobi, he was informed that they were fake.

The complainant reported the matter to the DCI offices in Kasarani and investigations revealed that Macharia was not a medical doctor.  The suspect was arrested at Thika Road Mall where he was supposed to meet the complainant.

Macharia, through his lawyer, applied for lenient bail conditions. But Sergeant Marwa filed an affidavit opposing the bail and bail conditions. He told the court that Macharia was arrested while he was defrauding another victim.

The detective said the suspect was uncooperative during investigations and refused to disclose where he lived, making him a potential flight risk.