Bogus doctor ‘should be treated like a child'

“I know he is facing serious criminal allegations but please take off his handcuffs because he’s still a minor and should be treated like a child.”

This how the magistrate described Kingsley Leeto Chele, who for four years has allegedly been duping his victims by posing as a medical doctor and an entrepreneur who ran a non-existent Dr King Pharmacy business from Tshwane. Chele, who police believe also used the alias “Dr KJ Ncube”, struck a lonely pose at the Pretoria magistrate’s court yesterday as police and correctional services officials scrambled around looking for the correct keys to uncuff him as per magistrate’s orders.

Dressed in a swanky green sweater and black sneakers, Chele owns two SA identity documents and a professional-looking pharmacy website whose address Sowetan traced to a military base where no one knows him. 

“Remember this is a child, although they claim he is old, he is still a child, we can't proceed,” said the magistrate as court officials removed Chele from the courtroom to uncuff him. 

A few minutes later Chele re-emerged in courtroom 16 without the shackles and the magistrate asked for the presence of his guardian but instead Chele said he has his own private lawyer to represent him to face the charge of escaping from custody. Police had re-arrested him at his girlfriend’s house in Vosloorus on Monday after he slipped away from the police last Wednesday. 

State prosecutor Thandy Mkhari told the court that Chele's real identity including his age were in doubt. 

“His residential address is still missing. We still need to make a complete profile because the information we have is that the accused has been using two South African IDs that we still need to verify with the home affairs department,” she said.

Chele, who was dressed in a swanky green sweater and black sneakers, did not speak and kept his eyes to the floor, contrary to the bubbly and outspoken man who boasted to his neighbours at The Falls Lifestyle Estate in Ruimsig, Roodepoort, about working as an “orthopaedic surgeon” at an unknown hospital in Johannesburg before he was arrested earlier this month. 

The court postponed Chele’s matter to later this month.

Two hours later Chele had to make his second appearance of the day at courtroom E in the same courthouse for charges of fraud, car theft and impersonating a medical practitioner. The second magistrate was strict and asked members of the public to clear the court. 

According to a source close to the investigation, Chele was expected to make a confession about his fraud cases but this had be postponed as he did not have a legal guardian present. 

“The issue about his age is a headache because he told us he was born in 1997 and not 2006 as his IDs claim. We are now organising a district surgeon to do an age assessment test to determine his age. We want him to be trialed as an adult,” said the source. 

Sowetan yesterday traced Chele’s business address, as shown on his website, to the home of a SA National Defence Force captain in Thaba Tshwane Military Area which accommodates staff from 1 Military Hospital. 

Neighbours of the owner of the house were shocked that the story they have been following about Chele’s escapades would land on their doorstep.

“We know the captain who lives here. He is a wonderful neighbour who keeps to himself if he is not at work. We have never seen the 'Dr' you are talking about and this area is very secure and nobody can just walk in here without being checked at the search point,” said one neighbour.