The United Kingdom Central Criminal Court, also known as the Old Bailey, on Friday sentenced a former Nigeria deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Dr Obinna Obeta to jail for plotting to harvest a man’s kidney for Ekweremadu’s sick daughter Sonia.
Ekweremadu was jailed for nine years and eight months, his wife Beatrice was handed four years and six months while Obeta was sentenced to a 10-year prison term for the same offence.
The Prosecutor, Hugh Davies told the jury that the behaviour of Ekweremadu showed “entitlement, dishonesty and hypocrisy”.
The trio of Ekweremadu, Beatrice and Obeta were convicted of conspiracy to arrange the travel of a young Nigerian man who was identified as David Nwamini to Britain in order to exploit him for his kidney.
The criminal charges were preferred on the senator and his wife on June 23, 2022, following their arrests. Obeta was later arraigned on July 13, 2022.
After a pre-trial that lasted for months, the trial commenced on January 31, 2023 and lasted about six weeks, culminating in a guilty verdict against Ekweremadus, and Obeta.
The jury held that Ekweremadu, his wife and their doctor criminally conspired to bring the 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.
The conviction is the first under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015.