Wife of Nigerian senator weeps in court as she denies trafficking market trader to the UK

The wife of a Nigerian senator wept in court as she denied trafficking a market trader to the UK to provide a kidney for her daughter.

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and wife Beatrice, 56, are accused of illegally transporting the man to the UK in February 2022 to provide a kidney for their 25-year-old daughter Sonia.

Sonia suffers from a ‘significant and deteriorating kidney condition’ and requires dialysis until she receives a transplant, the court has heard.

Ike, Beatrice and Sonia, along with ‘middleman’ Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, all deny conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

They offered the victim 1.2million or 3.5million Naira, which is the equivalent of £2,400 or £7,000, plus the promise of work and the opportunity to be in the United Kingdom, jurors have heard.

Beatrice Ekweremadu, 56, (left) the wife of a Nigerian senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, has wept in The Old Bailey as she denied illegally transporting the man to the UK in February 2022 to provide a kidney for their 25-year-old daughter Sonia

Sonia (pictured) suffers from a ‘significant and deteriorating kidney condition’ and requires dialysis until she receives a transplant, the court has heard

The victim, who was selling telephone parts from a wheelbarrow in a market in Lagos in Nigeria, was brought to London in February last year and told to pretend to be Sonia’s cousin.

Beatrice, an accountant, cried in the witness box at the Old Bailey on Tuesday as she said the accusations had destroyed her family’s good name.

Prosecutor Catherine Pattison asked: ‘Your drive through all of this was to try and do everything you could to try and get the transplant for your daughter, wasn’t it?’

‘That’s not true,’ Beatrice said.

The family were told the donor was unsuitable for the transplant after Dr Peter Dupont of the Royal Free Hospital in north London had concerns about his willingness to donate.

The family are said to have then tried to find a donor in Turkey.

‘When it came to it Mrs Ekweremadu you, your husband, Sonia, and your family were ready to move on from [the donor] very quickly to find another candidate you could exploit,’ Ms Pattison said.

‘There was no exploitation going on. Remember she was still sick, she is still sick. And I know that if it was your child, you’d have done more than I have done in this case,’ Beatrice replied.

Ms Pattison asked if she was shocked when she was arrested on a flight that had landed at Heathrow Airport from Istanbul on 21 June 2022.

‘It was very shocking, I’m still in shock, because all that my husband and I have built, the name we have built, is being destroyed because of things that are untrue,’ Beatrice said through sobs.

‘I don’t know why we are here, I don’t know why we are in this mess.

‘I did not exploit [the donor], I did not facilitate him coming to this country. I never knew what he wanted to do. He told us that he wanted to donate.

‘Even now as I’m sitting here, I don’t even know. I thought that [the donor] would have gone home. He has caused a lot of problems for my family.

‘He deceived us. He pretended to be helping us. And when he came here all of you can see what happened and where we are now.’

Mr Justice Johnson asked Beatrice if she was too distressed to complete her evidence today, but she decided to continue.

Sonia (pictured left) Ike, Beatrice and Sonia, along with ‘middleman’ Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, all deny conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation

They offered the victim 1.2million or 3.5million Naira, which is the equivalent of £2,400 or £7,000, plus the promise of work and the opportunity to be in the United Kingdom, jurors have heard (Nigerian senator Ike Edweremadu is pictured)

The victim, who was selling telephone parts from a wheelbarrow in a market in Lagos in Nigeria, was brought to London in February last year and told to pretend to be Sonia’s cousin (the politician’s wife, Beatrice pictured here outside the Old Bailey)

Ms Pattison asked why she did not tell police in interview that she had met the donor.

‘I’d never spoken to a policeman before in my life. Never heard talk of going to a police station, a police cell, prison.

‘I was in shock. I knew my husband was on the other side of the door accused.

‘You are saying this to me because you were not in that situation. If you had been in that situation I don’t know if you’d have performed better than I have.

‘My thoughts were all over the place.’

‘Rather than choosing a close family member, [the donor] was picked from a pool of impoverished Nigerians wasn’t he? Someone you could easily exploit.’

‘That’s not true. [The donor] was earning more than the minimum wage.’

Beatrice told the court her and her other children’s blood group was all A+ while Sonia’s was O+ so they could not donate.

Ms Pattison said: ‘Despite the public displays of fighting poverty you’ve given to this jury when it really mattered, when you had the choice, you chose to exploit the poor, exploit the vulnerable, because you could.

‘You had the money, the privileges, the connections and means and thought you could simply get away with it.’

‘That’s not true because since this thing has gone public so many people have lined up to donate,’ Beatrice replied.

‘In my country women no matter how high you are in your career, no matter how wealthy you are in your business, you are still under your husband.

‘I am lucky to have a good one who can take good decisions.

‘My husband is a good man and I trust his decisions. I did not bring [the donor] to the UK to exploit him.’

Ike and Beatrice, from Nigeria, Sonia, of Staverton Road, Willesden, and Obeta, of Hillbeck Close, Southwark, deny conspiracy to facilitate the travel of another person with a view to their exploitation.

The trial continues.