A doctor has been accused of plotting with a wealthy Nigerian senator and his wife to traffic a homeless man into the UK to harvest a kidney for their daughter, a court heard today.
Obinna Obeta, 50, from Southwark, south London, is charged under the Modern Slavery Act with arranging the travel of a 21-year-old man with a view to him being exploited between August last year and this May.
A second charge alleges he conspired with 60-year-old Ike Ekweremadu – a barrister and former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate – to arrange or facilitate the travel of the man with a view to him being exploited, namely organ harvesting.
It is alleged Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a district senator and lawyer, and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, brought the 21-year-old man from Nigeria to the UK.
Prosecutors claim they planned to have his kidney removed so it could be given to their daughter.
The Ekweremadus allegedly treated him as a slave before he escaped and went to Staines police station in Surrey. Pictured: Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a People’s Democratic Party politician in Nigeria
The man is said to have refused to consent to the procedure after undergoing tests at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north-west London.
The Ekweremadus allegedly treated him as a slave before he escaped and went to Staines police station in Surrey.
The couple deny wrongdoing or that there was a criminal conspiracy, and claim no exploitation occurred.
He was charged with arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation and conspiring together with Ike Ekweremadu to arrange or facilitate the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
Prosecutor Tim Probert-Wood said previously that the case involved ‘exploitation and the harvesting of an organ.’
‘The case began on 5 May 2022 when the complainant presented himself at Staines Police Station and claimed he had been transported to this country for the purpose of his kidney being removed.
