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 also sentenced his wife, Beatrice, to four years and six months jail term.
The doctor helping the couple out, Dr Obinna Obeta was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Recall that on March 23, the court found Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and their doctor, Obinna Obeta, guilty of trafficking a trader from Nigeria to the UK to harvest his organ, 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.
The verdict is the first of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 of the UK.
My body not for sale, organ-harvesting victim tells Ekweremadu, others
The victim in the centre of former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu’s organ harvesting saga has said he is “not for sale”.
A United Kingdom court on Friday sentenced Ekweremadu to a total of nine years and eight months imprisonment, and his wife, Beatrice, was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment for plotting to harvest a man’s kidney.
The third accomplice, a medical doctor, Dr Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
Ekweremadu, his wife and Obeta were found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiring to arrange the travel of the victim, a young man, with a view to exploiting him for his body part.
But the victim, who cannot be named because of legal reasons, claimed he was lured to the United Kingdom under the pretense of job opportunity in the country.
The victim said this in his impact statement which was read in court on Friday, Independence UK reports.
In the statement, the victim revealed his humble background in a Lagos village where he said he is the oldest of seven siblings living in a home without electricity or running water.
He was forced to become a street trader full time moving to the city to provide for his family when his father fell ill with a heart problem. He sold mobile phone accessories from a wheelbarrow making at most £7 a day and as little as 50p, the report added.
He said he was approached with an opportunity to work in the UK, something he had “always dreamed of but never thought would happen.”
However, he said he was shocked to discover the reason for the trip was to harvest his organs to give to Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia.
“He [Dr Obinna Obeta] did not tell me he brought me here for this reason, he did not tell me anything about this. I would have not agreed to any of this, my body is not for sale,” the victim said.
He added that he could not return to Nigeria because he worries for his safety. The victim claimed someone visited his father in Nigeria and asked him to get the victim, his son, to drop the case.
“I worry for my safety in Nigeria; those people can do anything. I think they could arrest me or kill me in Nigeria,” he added.
He told the police he did not want to claim compensation from the “bad people” as it would be “cursed and bad luck”, the report added.
