The Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, United Kingdom, has sentenced the former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and Doctor Obinna Obeta to prison for their involvement in the organ harvesting charges brought against them by a UK court.
At the final hearing on Friday, Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months imprisonment, his wife Beatrice, to four years and six months imprisonment while Obeta, 50, received a 10-year prison term.
The judge, Jeremy Johnson described the act as “despicable” and that the trio took advantage of the “poverty, misery and desperation” in Nigeria.
“People-trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold”, Johnson said, noting the sentence represented a substantial fall from grace for Ekweremadu.
Credible News reports that the Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia had been cleared of the same charge after jurors deliberated for nearly 14 hours in March.
On Friday, she waved to her parents as they were led out of the court. Neither of them showed any emotion as they were sentenced.
It was alleged that the 21-year-old street trader was to be rewarded for donating the organ to Sonia Ekweremadu in an £80,000 private procedure at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
The case marked the first time convictions were made under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ harvesting conspiracy.
While it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if money or another material advantage is involved.
The prosecution claimed the donor was offered up to £7,000 and promised a better life in the UK.
The donor did not understand until his first appointment with a consultant at the hospital that he was there for a kidney transplant, the Old Bailey said.
