'Doctor' Mugo wa Wairimu charged, pleads not guilty

James Mugo Ndichu, who passes himself off as Dr Mugo wa Wairimu, was on Friday charged with running a pharmacy and a medical laboratory without licenses.

He pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Martha Mutuku in a Milimani court.

Mr Mugo faced two counts of unlawfully running a pharmacy not registered by the Pharmacy and Poisons board.

The prosecution also accused him of operating a medical laboratory without registration and licence from the Kenya Medical Laboratory and Technologists Board.

Mr Mugo is accused of committing the offenses in Nairobi's Kayole estate in November.

BAIL

The prosecution asked the court to deny him bond because he has a proven history of jumping bail.

But his lawyer argued that the charges he was facing warrants him to be released on bond like any other accused person.

The court will rule on December 6 on whether to free him on bond.

Mr Mugo was arrested earlier this month by Flying Squad detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

The officers pounced on Mr Mugo in Gachie as he moved from one hideout to another, ending a long search that saw the detectives move from estate to estate in Kiambu and Nairobi.

The officers had searched Kayole, Kiambu, Dagoretti, Tena, Kasarani and Gachie for Mr Mugo whose devious businesses were exposed in an NTV investigative piece last week.

Earlier, a detective attached to the SCPU had said all the 12 mobile phones associated with Mr Mugo had been tracked, but none of them was on. “In one instance, we found the phone signal, followed it and found the gadget, but we could not find him,” the officer said, adding that he suspected the man was being hidden by a relative in Kiambu.

Mr Mugo, who was arrested in 2015 for operating a clinic without a licence and employing unqualified personnel, was again exposed last week by the TV story that showed him running a clinic under the influence of alcohol, allowing unqualified employees to conduct operations and sexually harassing his patients.

Two of his employees, Mr Victor Gathiru Kamunya alias Doctor Victor and Ms Risper Ouma Ogony, who were arrested at the clinic, were arraigned and charged.