UPDATED: BREAKING: UK court sentences Ekweremadu, wife, “middleman” to 26 years imprisonment

Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice

UPDATED: BREAKING: UK court sentences Ekweremadu, wife, “middleman” to 26 years imprisonment

A former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, a medical doctor, Obinna Obeys, who served as the couple’s “middleman”, have been jailed for an organ-trafficking plot, after bringing a man to the UK from Lagos.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu

Senator Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife Beatrice, 56, wanted a new kidney for their 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, the Old Bailey Court heard.

The couple and Dr Obeta, 50, were previously convicted of conspiring to exploit the man,

BBC report said it was the first such case under modern slavery laws.

Organ-trafficking plot politician and wife guilty

Ike Ekweremadu, who was described by the judge as the “driving force throughout”, was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison.

‘Form of slavery’

Obeta, he said, had lied to doctors and falsely claimed the young potential donor was a cousin of the senator’s daughter who urgently needed a transplant.

The three had left the potential donor facing a “substantial and long term impact on his daily life”, he said.

“People-trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery,” the judge added.

Sonia Ekweremadu was cleared of wrongdoing and watched her parents being sentenced from the public gallery

In a victim personal statement, the 21-year-old Nigerian market trader, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court he used to “pray every day” to be given the opportunity to come to the UK to work or study.

He said to “make it happen” he agreed to medical tests in Lagos and meetings with doctors in London, believing they were required for his UK visa during the Covid pandemic.

The 21-year-old said he only realised what was planned when he met doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in London who began discussing a kidney transplant.

He told the court he would not had have agreed to it, adding: “My body is not for sale.”

The victim is now being helped by a charity in the UK, according to his lawyer in Nigeria.

In his statement, he said he “can’t think about going home to Nigeria”, as “these people are extremely powerful and I worry for my safety”.

He also refused to apply for financial compensation from the Ekweremadu family, telling a detective he “did not need or want anything from the bad people”.

‘First conviction’

Hugh Davies KC, prosecuting, said all three defendants were guilty of trafficking with the highest level of culpability.

Lynette Woodrow, deputy chief crown prosecutor and national modern slavery lead at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said it had been “our first conviction for trafficking for the purposes of organ removal in England and Wales”.

She said it highlighted an important legal principle which made it irrelevant whether the trafficking victim knew he was coming to the UK to provide a kidney.

“With all trafficking offences,” Ms Woodrow said, “the consent of the person trafficked is no defence. The law is clear; you cannot consent to your own exploitation.”

In the wake of the case the Metropolitan Police and CPS have been working with hospitals and the Human Tissue Authority about actions they should take when concerns about organ trafficking are raised.