Couple who trafficked young man to UK from Nigeria to harvest kidney for sick daughter in landmark case are jailed
A RICH couple who trafficked a man to the UK to harvest his kidney for their sick daughter in exchange for up to £7,000 have been jailed.
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, trafficked the 21-year-old from Lagos in Nigeria.
They wanted to harvest his organs for daughter Sonia, who suffers from kidney failure and requires dialysis.
The couple and medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta have today been jailed with politician Ekweremadu for nine years and eight months.
His wife Beatrice Ekweremadu was jailed for four and a half years while Dr Obeta was jailed for 10 years.
They were convicted of conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of the young man with a view to exploitation in the first case of its kind.
Sonia wept previously as she was cleared of conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of the young man with a view to exploitation,
Jurors heard the couple were “significant figures” in Nigerian society and had a “significant degree of wealth”.
Ike Ekweremadu was a senior senator in the Nigerian Parliament.
But prosecutor Hugh Davies KC said: “There are, however, certain things that money and status cannot guarantee in any family and they include good health.”
Sonia’s kidney condition was “deteriorating” and she needed a transplant to cure her.
The trio hatched a plan to bring a poor street trader from Nigeria to the UK to harvest his organ.
They found a donor who was making a few pounds a day selling telephone parts from a cart in public markets.
The family then transported him to London in February 2022 with an agreement to pay up to £7,000 and a promise of a better life.
Once in the UK, the man was coached to give false answers to doctors at the Royal Free Hospital – including claiming Sonia was his cousin.
But he had a “limited understanding” of why he was visiting the hospital and was “relieved” when told the procedure would not go ahead.
When he was rejected as unsuitable, the couple then began scouring Turkey for another donor.
During his evidence, Ike Ekweremadu claimed he had “limited intelligence” so did not consult Sonia’s specialist about whether a family member could donate a kidney.
But the prosecutor rejected the “incredible” claim, saying: “What you are saying is you had no intention of anyone in your family – immediate or extended – stepping up to donate a kidney to Sonia.
“Far better to buy one and let the medical risk go to someone you don’t know.”
Joanne Jakymec, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: “This was an horrific plot to exploit a vulnerable victim by trafficking him to the UK for the purpose of transplanting his kidney.
“The defendants showed utter disregard for the victim’s welfare, health and well-being and used their considerable influence to a high degree of control throughout, with the victim having limited understanding of what was really going on here.”