Dr Obinna Obeta of Hillbeck Close, Southwark, southeast London, has been accused of plotting with a Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu to traffic a homeless man David Nwamini Ukpo into the UK to harvest a kidney for their daughter.
Dr obetta appeared at Bexley Magistrates’ Court on 13 July for 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, according to Mailonline.
Obeta, 50, 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.
Prosecutors claim they planned to have his kidney removed so it could be given to their daughter.
It is alleged Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a district senator and lawyer, (right) and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, (left) brought the 21-year-old man from Nigeria to the UK.
The Ekweremadus allegedly treated him as a slave before he escaped and went to Staines police station in Surrey.
The couple were arrested at Heathrow Airport on June 21 after arriving on a flight from Turkey.
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 couple deny wrongdoing or that there was a criminal conspiracy, and claim no exploitation occurred.
Prosecutor Tim Probert-Wood said previously that the case involved ‘exploitation and the harvesting of an organ.’
Prosecutors claim the couple planned to have his kidney removed so it could be given to their daughter
He said: ‘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.
‘He arrived on 20th February 2022 and was taken to Royal Free Hospital where tests were conducted.
‘For the purpose he was there he did not consent to the taking of his kidney.
‘He returned to the house he was staying and his treatment changed dramatically.
‘He described being treated effectively as a slave.’
The victim allegedly escaped the address and was homeless for three days before he turned up at Staines Police Station.
Martin Hicks, QC, defending Ike, has said: ‘We deny that there was any exploitation or any intent to do so.
‘The argument will be factual denial.’
All three defendants, who are in custody, are due to appear at the Old Bailey on August 4.
