In the first conviction of its sort under the Modern Slavery Act, former deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and their doctor were found guilty of trafficking in human organs.
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After a six-week trial at the Old Bailey, Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and Dr. Obinna Obeta, 51, were all convicted guilty of enabling a young man’s visit to Britain with the intention of exploiting him.
The jury found that Ekweremadu, his wife, and their doctor had conspired to bring the 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.
Ekweremadus and Obeta had viewed the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward,” the prosecutor Hugh Davies KC told the court. He said that they engaged in a “commercial transaction with the man that was emotionally cold.”
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According to Davies, Ekweremadu’s actions demonstrated “entitlement, dishonesty, and hypocrisy.”
He claimed that multi-property owner Ekweremadu, who employs 80 people, “agreed to reward someone for a kidney for his daughter – someone in poverty from whom he distanced himself and made no inquiries, and with whom, for his own political protection, he wanted no direct contact.”
According to Davies, what he decided to do was not just practical for his daughter Sonia’s medical needs; it was also exploitative and illegal. Saying that he did it out of love for his daughter is not a defence. Her medical requirements cannot be satisfied at the price of exploiting a person in need.
Ekweremadu, who refuted the accusation, said in court that he was a victim of fraud. The man was not given a reward for his kidney, according to Obeta, who also refuted the accusation, and he was acting out of altruism. Beatrice vehemently denied knowing anything about the purported scheme. Sonia didn’t offer any testimony.
At a later date, the judge, Mr. Justice Jeremy Johnson, willwill pass sentence.
