UK Court Finds Ekweremadu, Wife Guilty Of Organ Harvesting, To Be Sentenced

A court in the United Kingdom has found former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, guilty of organ harvesting in the country.

Recall that the former senate President was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police following an intelligence report.

He was subsequently arraigned on charges of planning to engage in organ harvesting and trafficking using a young man from the streets of Lagos State.

Recall that the duo was charged with conspiracy to arrange and facilitate the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting, contrary to the UK modern slavery legislation.

David Ukpo, the alleged kidney donor, was said to have alerted the hospital he was taken to in the UK, saying he was unaware he was brought into the country to donate his kidney to Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia.

But Ekweremadu and his wife had pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying they were “scammed”.

The prosecutor Hugh Davies KC had insisted that the Ekweremadus and his doctor treated donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward”.

“What he agreed to do was not simply expedient in the clinical interests of his daughter, Sonia, it was exploitation, it was criminal. It is no defence to say he acted out of love for his daughter. Her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of somebody in poverty,” the prosecutor said.

The judge agreed with the prosecutor’s submission.

Guardian UK reports that Justice Jeremy Johnson, will sentence them at a later date.