Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, has been
found guilty of organ trafficking by a United Kingdom court.
His wife, Beatrice, and Obinna Obeta, a doctor involved in
the case, were also found guilty.
The jury found that they conspired to bring the 21-year-old
at the centre of the matter to London to exploit him for his kidney.
According to the UK Guardian, it is the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act.
Their daughter, Sonia, was however cleared of the charges.
The Ekweremadus were arrested by the London Metropolitan
Police in June 2022.
They were alleged to have attempted to convince doctors at
the Royal Free Hospital in London to perform an £80,000 transplant on the donor
who was presented as Sonia’s cousin.
However, during the trial, the couple apologised for
claiming that the donor was a relative.
Hugh Davies, the prosecutor, told the court the Ekweremadus
and Obeta had treated the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets
– spare parts for reward”.
He added that they entered an “emotionally cold commercial
transaction” with the 21-year-old.
The prosecutor said Ekweremadu, a lawyer and lawmaker,
“agreed to reward someone for a kidney for his daughter – somebody in
circumstances of poverty and from whom he distanced himself and made no
inquiries, and with whom, for his own political protection, he wanted no direct
contact”.
“What he agreed to do
was not simply expedient in the clinical interests of his daughter, Sonia, it
was exploitation, it was criminal,” he said.
“It is no defence to say he acted out of love for his
daughter. Her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of
somebody in poverty.”
Throughout the trial, Ekweremadu denied all accusations and
maintained that he was the victim of a scam.
Obeta, who also denied the charge, claimed the man was not
offered a reward for his kidney and was acting altruistically.
Beatrice vehemently denied knowing anything about the
purported conspiracy. Sonia did not enter any defence after presenting the
court with a medical report claiming she is unfit for trial.
Jeremy Johnson, the presiding judge, has reserved sentencing
to a later date.
Under the UK’s Modern Slavery system Act 2015, organ
harvesting is punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
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Senator Ike Ekweremadu, United Kingdom is not this country where your kind has messed up. You and your likes have always made laws that allowed you to do any how and get away with it. You guys carry human heads in your cars with police escorts. It is called the powers-that-be in our political parlance. In UK certain, some of you would have been locked up years ago given your antecedents. Our collective prayers is that the likes of you will one day be cooling off in either British jail or American jail. Our more important prayer for you is that you face your travails with courage. UK is not Nigeria.
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