Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and his Wife, Beatrice alogside his physician, Dr. Obinna Obeta have been convicted by a British court.
The trio were convicted of conspiring to exploit a street trader from Lagos, David Nwamini for Organ transplant in the UK.
They will be sentenced on May 5 and could face up to 10 years in jail.
Ekweremadu and his accomplices were found guilty by the United Kingdom (UK) Magistrate’s Court of trafficking Nwamini from Nigeria to Britain to provide a kidney for Ekweremadu’s 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said yesterday.
Sonia was cleared of the same charge for which her parents and the Nigerian doctor were convicted.
Sonia, who had declined to give evidence, broke into tears as she was cleared by the jury.
The prosecution confirmed that the maximum sentence in the organ harvesting case is one of life.
After the convictions, Chief Crown Prosecutor Joanne Jakymec, described the conspiracy as a horrific plot.
She said: “This was a horrific plot to exploit a vulnerable victim by trafficking him to the UK for the purpose of transplanting his kidney.
“The convicted defendants showed utter disregard for the victim’s welfare, health and well-being and used their considerable influence to a high degree of control throughout, with the victim having a limited understanding of what was really going on here.”
The jury deliberated for nearly 14 hours to convict Ekweremadu, Beatrice and Obeta.
A detective inspector with the Metropolitan Police, Esther Richardson, commended the victim for his bravery in speaking against the offenders.
According to her, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and Human Tissue Authority teams “worked tirelessly” on the case, which is the first time that defendants have been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ-trafficking conspiracy.
The Ekweremadus and Dr. Obeta denied the charges against them.
Ekweremadu had been in custody since June 23, last year
