BREAKING: UK Court Sends Ekweremadu to 10-Year in Prison Over Organ Harvesting
By Boniface Ihiasota, USA
Former Nigerian Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Dr. Obinna Obeta have been sentenced to jail for conspiring to traffic a Nigerian market trader, David Ukpo, to the United Kingdom to harvest his kidney.
Ekweremadu, his wife, and Obeta were found guilty of the crime in March at the Old Bailey.
Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison, Beatrice was sentenced to four years and six months, while Obeta received a 10-year prison term.
The trio was accused of conspiring to bring Ukpo to the UK from Lagos for his organ, which was to be donated to Sonia Ekweremadu, their daughter who has a serious kidney condition.
Sonia, however, was cleared of the same charge.
The 21-year-old street trader was to be rewarded with up to £7,000 for donating the organ in an £80,000 private procedure at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
The prosecution claimed the donor was promised a better life in the UK.
Although it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if money or another material advantage is rewarded.
The case marked the first time defendants have been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ harvesting conspiracy.
The victim did not understand that he was there for a kidney transplant until his first appointment with a consultant at the hospital.
The Ekweremadus and Dr. Obeta intended harm to the donor, and the risks were not properly explained to him.
During the trial, the prosecutor called it a “horrific plot” and said the defendants “showed utter disregard for the victim’s welfare, health, and wellbeing.”
The judge, Justice Johnson, said the offence committed by each of the defendants was so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence could be justified.
