Mugo wa Wairimu type: Rogue medics who prey on female patients behind closed doors

The rape of a dialysis patient in Mombasa County by a renal doctor at Pandya Memorial Hospital has brought back the horrific memories of Mugo Wa Wairimu, a self-proclaimed doctor jailed for 29 years for sedating and raping his female patients.

In 2015, Wairimu sent shock waves after video clips emerged of him sedating female patients before sleeping with them in his clinic in Kiambu.

He was charged with 12 offences including rape, impersonating a gynaecologist and operating a clinic without a license in Nairobi.

And on February 3, 2025, Dias Wabwire, a renal doctor at Pandya Memorial Hospital in Mombasa County was charged with raping patient MTK who has been undergoing dialysis for the past year.

Wabwire joins a long list of rogue and perverted medical practitioners who have or are suspected of taking advantage of the trust of their patients to sexually assault and violate them.

In 2013, a former American doctor was sentenced to 20 years in prison for engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors in Kenya.

John D Ott, 68, pleaded guilty in May 2013 before Reggie B Walton in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

Radiology room

Court records show that Ott also started an orphanage in Kenya. 

Ott admitted that between approximately January 2004 and September 2012, he engaged in illicit sexual conduct in Muhuru Bay, Sori and Kendu Bay, Kenya, with at least 14 minors, who ranged in age from approximately nine to 17 years old when the illicit sexual conduct began. 

Last year November, Robert Kiplangat, a staffer at Plainsview Hospital in Ruiru was charged with raping a patient in a radiology room.

Wabwire, is accused of taking advantage of the early morning dialysis sessions to sexually harass MTK through unconsented sexual conversation, groping and finally raping her.

The 31-year-old renal doctor was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku where he denied intentionally and unlawfully raping MTK on January 31, 2025, at around 0500 hours.

He was released on A Sh500,000 bond with one surety.

It is alleged that despite reporting the doctor to the hospital management, MTK was ignored by the hospital's senior staff.

In a brief unsigned statement, the hospital said it was alerted about the complaint on January 31 and took requisite steps to ensure the arrest of the suspect.

“On Friday, January 31, 2025, at about 0900 hours, the hospital’s management was alerted of a complaint by a female patient from the renal unit in connection with sexual assault by one of our male medical personnel,” read a statement by Pandya Hospital.

Ceazerine Mwangi, a businesswoman in Mombasa, says she is among the women faced with a dilemma of privacy invasion and treatment when attended by male doctors.

Mwangi says that, like most women, she dreads the experience of going for a gynaecology checkup, especially if it involves a new gynaecologist.

She says most women, especially young ones, may be taken advantage of when they are unaccompanied and lack the knowledge of what the gynaecologist is looking for and the procedure.

Defiling student

In June 2018, a medical staffer at the Kapkatet Sub-county Hospital in Bureti, Kericho County, was charged with raping a female patient at the facility.

Hillary Kipkirui Bett, an imaging sciences technician at the hospital appeared before Kericho chief magistrate Samuel Soita where he denied raping a 23-year-old woman.

Bett was accused of allegedly injecting the woman with drugs before raping her.

According to reports, the student had visited the hospital for a CT scan at around 11 pm after experiencing severe headaches.

Bett is said to have fled after committing the offence and was arrested from his hideout in Kericho town.

In January 2018, an intern nurse at the same hospital was also charged before Kericho law courts with defiling a Form Two student.

Dennis Kiplangat Bore was arraigned before Kericho Senior Resident Magistrate Solomon Ngetich and charged with defiling the 16-year-old student who had visited the facility after falling sick in school.

Bore was released on a bond of Sh200,000 with a surety of a similar amount.