The Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, UK, has sentenced Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, to nine years and eight months in prison for organ harvesting.
His wife, Beatrice, was handed four years and six months jail term during the sentencing on Friday, BBC reports.
On March 23, the jury pronounced a guilty verdict on the senator, his wife, Beatrice, and Obinna Obeta, a doctor who acted as the middleman.
The jury held that they conspired to bring the 21-year-old at the centre of the matter to London to exploit him for his kidney.
Talk to a Lawyer Key Facts
- The Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, UK, has sentenced Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president of Nigeria, to nine years and eight months in prison for organ harvesting.
- The Senator’s crime was to conspire with his wife and a medical middleman to bring a street trader from Lagos to London for surgery to transfer his kidney to their sick daughter.
- This was the first conviction of its kind under Britain’s modern slavery laws, which prohibit organ tourism that involves either forced organ harvesting or black market organ trafficking.
- The Senator and his accomplices also contravened the law that makes it illegal to donate an organ in the UK for payment or reward.
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