A MAN has revealed how his girlfriend’s son tried to kill him by injecting a flesh-eating chemical while posing as a Covid nurse.
Patrick O’Hara, 72, was the target of an elaborate plan hatched by GP Thomas Kwan, 53, after finding out he had been named in his mum’s will.
Patrick O’Hara leaving Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday[/caption]
Kwan, from Sunderland, wore a bizarre fake beard and hairpiece as part of a plot to kill his mum’s lover as his home in Newcastle on January 22 earlier this year.
Patrick, who is no longer in a relationship with Kwan’s mum Jenny Leung, was fortunate to survive after the toxin caused a “rare and life-threatening flesh-eating disease”.
Kwan initially denied attempted murder, but changed his plea on the second day of his trial earlier this month.
In a victim impact statement at Kwan’s sentencing on Thursday, Patrick revealed that his life has now “completely changed forever”.
He added: “I genuinely feel as if I have been to hell and back.”
When Patrick was given the injection, he screamed out in pain, but was told by Kwan that this was a normal reaction.
He is now suffering from severe PTSD after spending several weeks in intensive care and having part of his arm cut away to stop the flesh-eating disease from spreading.
Patrick told the court: “This incident should have been the end of me.”
He added: “I remember that, when that needle entered my arm, I felt instant, excruciating pain. I had never in my life felt anything that painful before.
“I instantly thought that something had gone wrong.”
Patrick said his arm “felt like it was on fire” and is now “petrified” Kwan will cause further harm to his family.
He continued: “I have always thought what would I say to him, should the opportunity arise?
“I genuinely feel as if I have been to hell and back.”
Newcastle Crown Court earlier heard how Kwan had developed an extensive knowledge of poisons and collected dangerous chemicals including liquid mercury, sulphuric acid and arsenic.
The GP also prepared letters with a “chilling authenticity” from a made-up NHS department called the Community Associated Nursing team in the build-up to the attack.
His stepdad sadly fell “hook, line and sinker” after he was sent the letter.
On January 22 earlier this year, Kwan left his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, in a Toyota Yaris fitted with false number plates.
He was seen on CCTV entering a Premier Inn in Newcastle, before checking in under a fake name.
Kwan left the hotel a few hours later, wearing a disguise that included a long coat, surgical gloves and a face mask.
He travelled to Patrick’s home, telling him he was from the NHS while speaking in a “broken English accent”.
The disguise was so convincing that his own mum was “oblivious”.
Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, said: “Immediately Mr O’Hara felt a terrible pain and jumped back. He shouted, ‘b***** hell’ and explained the immediate and intense pain, but the nurse reassured him.
“From that point forward, the nurse began to noticeably speed up his departure, packing up his equipment and leaving the premises in something of a rush.
“As he left the home, Ms. Leung came downstairs again and commented that the nurse had been the same height as her son.
“Upon that comment, and for the first time, Mr O’Hara began to suspect something was very wrong. He went out into the street to see if he could catch the nurse up and get some reassurance.
“He was too late out into the street and could find no trace of the nurse. He returned home to find the pain in his arm increasing.”
He had grown “obsessed” with money and his inheritance before hatching the sinister plan.
But Kwan was arrested two weeks later and cops uncovered the full extent of his murder plot.
