Senator and his wife deny organ harvesting
A Nigerian senator and his wife have denied trafficking a homeless man into the UK to harvest organs for his daughter.
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, is charged alongside Beatrice Ekweremadu, 56, their daughter Sonia Ekweremadu, 25, her, and Nigerian doctor Obinna Obeta, 50.
Ike, Beatrice and Obeta denied conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation when they appeared at the Old Bailey.
It is alleged they conspired together, with others unknown and with another family member Isaac Ekweremadu, who remains in Nigeria, to arrange the travel of a 21-year-old man with a view to exploiting him between 1 August 2021 and 5 May this year.
They facilitated his travel from Lagos to London to remove one of his kidneys for Sonia’s benefit, it is claimed.
Sonia has a kidney-related disease and has been on dialysis for some time, the court has heard.
She was unable to attend court today due to dialysis treatment and will enter her plea at a later date.
Ike and Beatrice Ekweremadu were arrested after the young man, who previously lived on the streets of Lagos, turned up at Staines police station, claiming he was the victim of trafficking.
The man told officers he had arrived in the UK on 20 February this year and had been taken to Royal Free Hospital for tests, none of which he consented to.
After these tests, the man said he had returned to the house he had been staying in, where he was ‘treated effectively as a slave’.
He said he escaped the address and was homeless for three days before going to the police.
Ike, a barrister and former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, and his wife Beatrice were arrested in the UK on 21 June after flying in to Heathrow from Turkey.
Ike has been elected to five consecutive terms in the Nigerian senate since 2003.
He led the Nigerian delegation at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.
Beatrice, who appeared in court today wearing a leopard print shirt and grey velvet coat was granted bail. Sonia is also on bail.
The Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft, remanded Ike and Obeta in custody in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Belmarsh respectivelt ahead of their four week trial on 30 January.
