A former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, alongside a medical doctor, Dr. Obinna Obeta, were found guilty of organ trafficking in the United Kingdom.
According to The Guardian UK, after a six-week trial at the Old Bailey, they were found guilty of ‘facilitating the travel of a young man to Britain with a view to his exploitation.’
According to the jury’s verdict, the individuals involved conspired to commit a criminal act by bringing a 21-year-old street trader from Lagos to London with the intention of exploiting him for his kidney.
In February 2022, the man was falsely presented to a private renal unit at London’s Royal Free hospital as Sonia’s cousin in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade doctors to perform an £80,000 transplant. The court heard that a medical secretary at the hospital acted as an Igbo translator between the man and the doctors for a fee, to try to convince them he was a selfless donor.
Disposable Asset
The court heard that the man, who remains anonymous for legal reasons, was offered an illegal reward to become a donor for the daughter of a senator named Sonia Ekweremadu.
Sonia however, was acquitted of any wrongdoing. She has had to drop out of a film master’s degree at Newcastle University due to kidney disease.
Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC stated that Ike Ekweremadu and family and Obeta treated the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward.” He added that they entered into an “emotionally detached commercial transaction” with the man.
The judge, Justice Jeremy Johnson, will pass a sentence at a later date
