Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, and their Doctor, Obinna, have been jailed for an Organ-trafficking plot by a UK court. This is in line with the arrest and prosecution that started in June 2022. However, the court jailed Ekweremadu, his wife and a doctor on Friday over an organ harvesting plot involving a young man trafficked to the UK for his kidney, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.
Recall that the trio was arrested for alleged organ harvesting in June 2022. According to our earlier report, a UK Court found Ekweremadu and others guilty of human organ trafficking on March 23, 2023.
The Judgement:
The UK’s Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, sentenced Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and Dr Obinna Obeta to jail:
- Ike Ekweremadu, – 9.8 years imprisonment. The judge described as the “driving force throughout”.
- Dr Obeta – 10 years imprisonment after the judge found he had targeted the potential donor, who was young, poor and vulnerable.
- Beatrice Ekweremadu – 4.6 years imprisonment due to her limited involvement.
Also, this is the first conviction of its kind under Britain’s modern slavery laws.
The victim, A 21-year-old lad, David Ukpo Nwamini, was a poor street trader in Lagos. The couple flew him into the United Kingdom in a bid to have his kidney donated to their child. Their daughter, Sonia, suffers from deteriorating kidneys and needs regular dialysis. Unfortunately for the couple, David had reported the issue to the UK police. Since the time of their arrest, they have been facing trials in London.
He fled in fear for his life and walked into a police station exactly a year ago to report what had happened after the Royal Free Hospital called a halt to the private £80,000 procedure.
In a motion by Mr Okechukwu, the Nigerian government sought clemency and pleaded for a minimal sentence for the couple. He said that there’s a need for clemency based on public service.
