A rich Nigerian politician, his wife, and their “middleman” were convicted of organ trafficking after transferring a man from Lagos to the UK.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife Beatrice, 56, sought a kidney for their 25-year-old daughter Sonia at the Old Bailey.
Dr. Obinna Obeta, 50, and the two were convicted of intending to exploit the man.
The first was under modern slavery laws.
Ike Ekweremadu was the “driving force throughout” and was sentenced to nine years and eight months.
Dr Obeta received a 10-year sentence for targeting vulnerable, young, underprivileged donors.
Beatrice Ekweremadu received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for her little involvement.
To get a kidney for the Ekweremadus’ daughter, they transported their victim, an impoverished street vendor from Lagos, to the UK.
After the Royal Free Hospital stopped the private £80,000 treatment, he escaped in fear for his safety and entered a police station precisely a year ago to tell what had happened.
Nduka Orjinmo, a BBC correspondent working in Nigeria, says people are accustomed to seeing the wealthy and powerful getting their way in a nation where rules are flagrantly broken when speaking about how the case is perceived there.
While some have shown compassion for a parent struggling to care for his ill daughter, he claims that many are relieved that a prominent politician who heartlessly took advantage of a helpless street vendor is being brought to justice.
Ike Ekweremadu’s “substantial fall from grace” was acknowledged by Mr Justice Johnson at a punishment hearing that was broadcast on television.
He contrasted the victim, who could not buy a £25 ticket to fly to Abuja, with the politician, who had numerous residences, domestic staff, cleaners, cooks, and drivers.
He alleged that Obeta had misled medical professionals by claiming the possible young donor was the senator’s daughter’s cousin, who urgently needed a transplant. He said that the three had a “substantial and long-term impact on his daily life” and left the potential donor feeling helpless.
“People-trafficking across international borders for the purpose of harvesting human organs is a form of slavery,” the judge continued.
The 21-year-old market trader from Nigeria, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said in a victim’s statement that he used to “pray every day” for the chance to work or study in the UK.
He said that to “make it happen,” he consented to medical examinations in Lagos and consultations with physicians in London, thinking that doing so would get him a UK visa during the Covid epidemic.
The 21-year-old said that it was only after he met physicians at the Royal Free Hospital in London who started talking about a kidney donation that he grasped what was intended.
He claimed before the judge that he would not have consented to it and said, “My body is not for sale.”
According to his lawyer in Nigeria, the victim is currently receiving assistance from a charity in the UK.
The 21-year-old said in his statement that he “can’t think about returning to Nigeria” because “these people are extremely powerful and I worry for my safety.”
He is said to have told a detective that he “did not need or want anything from the bad people” when asked to seek financial restitution from the Ekweremadu family.
The Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) national contemporary slavery lead, Lynette Woodrow, stated that it was “our first conviction for trafficking for the purposes of organ removal in England and Wales.”
She stated that it brought to light a crucial legal concept that rendered irrelevant whether the victim of trafficking knew he was travelling to the UK to donate a kidney.
The permission of the individual who was trafficked is never a defence, Ms. Woodrow stated of trafficking charges. It is against the law for you to approve of your own exploitation.
Following the incident, the Human Tissue Authority and the Metropolitan Police have been advising hospitals on what to do when there are suspicions of organ trafficking.
