A British jury has sentenced Ike Ekweremadu, a wealthy Nigerian senator, to almost 10 years behind bars for an organ-trafficking plot in which he and his wife Beatrice – who received a four-and-a-half-year sentence – tried to procure a new kidney for their daughter, Sonia (25).
The British court cleared their daughter of wrongdoing, reports the BBC.
Sonia Ekweremadu was one of four siblings who had been privately educated in the UK. She was studying for a masters degree at Newcastle University when she became ill in December 2019, and now relies on weekly dialysis.
She said she “understands the conviction” but she will always “back her parents”.
The couple had recruited and then flown a naïve young market vendor (21) from Lagos to the UK for an £80 000 private transplant at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
The prosecution said the donor was offered up to £7 000 and the promise of a better life in the UK.
The victim told the BBC he was “scared and afraid of going back to Nigeria”, especially because of how prominent a person the senator is.
His lawyer said the young man simply “fell for the promise of a good life”, and was just an “ordinary fellow” who wants to get on with his life.
BBC News article – Daughter of organ traffickers says ‘I’ll always back my parents’ (Open access)
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