The Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, UK, has sentenced former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, to nine years and eight months in prison for organ trafficking.
The court, Friday, also committed Beatrice, his wife, to four years and six months in prison.
The ‘middleman’ Dr Obinna Obeta was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Their daughter, Sonia Ekweremadu – who has a serious kidney condition – wept as she was cleared of the same charge.
This verdict comes two months after the court found them guilty of trafficking a 21-year-old male from Lagos, Nigeria, to the UK to extract his kidney to transplant into Sonia Ekweremadu, daughter of the lawmaker – a crime under the United Kingdom Modern Slavery act 2015.
The jury held that they conspired to bring the 21-year-old to London to exploit him for his kidney.
Justice Johnson told the defendants: ‘In each of your cases the offence you committed is so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence can be justified.’
It was alleged 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 verdict is the first of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 of the UK.
While it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if money or another material advantage is rewarded.
