London’s Old Bailey criminal court has disclosed that Nigeria’s former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Doctor Obinna Obeta’s conviction was the first under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015.
According to the judge, it was the first time organ harvesting conspiracy charges were brought under the UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act. The maximum sentence under the legislation is life imprisonment.
Judge Jeremy Johnson, handed Ike Ekweremadu, 60, the prison sentence of nine years and eight months for his part in a “despicable trade” that took advantage of the “poverty, misery and desperation” of vulnerable people.
“People trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery.
“It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold,” he added, noting the sentence represented a “substantial fall from grace” for Ekweremadu.
It would be recalled that at a sentencing hearing on Friday, the judge had also sentenced Ekweremadu’s wife Beatrice to four years and six months imprisonment and Obeta to a 10-year prison term.
The jury said Ekweremadu, his wife and their doctor criminally conspired to bring the 21-year-old trader, identified as David Nwamini to London to exploit him for his kidney on behalf of Sonia.
