‘He’s A Good Man,’ Mrs Ekweremadu Defends Husband In Court Trial
Mrs Beatrice Ekweremadu testified on Tuesday in her and her husband Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s organ harvesting trial at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, also known as Old Bailey, London.
The couple is accused of plotting alongside one Dr Obinna Obeta to arrange an illegal kidney transplant for their sick daughter Sonia, 25, who is also named as a defendant.
They allegedly conspired to transport a 21-year-old street trader from Lagos to London to harvest his organ.
With the trial entering its seventh week, a teary Mrs Ekweremadu took the stand in the former Deputy Senate President’s defence, saying, “My husband is a good man and I have come to trust him.”
The plaintiff attempted to find out how much information the 56-year-old accountant knew about who the alleged victim is.
But Mrs Ekweremadu said she was unaware of a number of affairs on the home front, telling the court that as a woman with a powerful politician and lawyer for a husband, she refrained from questioning him.
The victim had testified that he had no knowledge of the fact that he was being brought to the UK for his organs to be harvested, adding that he only knew about the organ donation when he visited private doctors at the Royal Free Hospital.
Lengthy text messages spanning the past two years served as the basis for the examination.
The British police are still trying to trace the senator’s brother, Diwe Ekweremadu, who is believed to be in Nigeria and is alleged to have acted as a middleman for the Ekweremadus.
The fourth defendant, 51-year-old general practitioner Dr Obinna Obeta, is said to be a classmate of the senator’s brother and acted as the middleman.
Channels Television reports that the Ekweremadus travelled with Obeta and the alleged victim to the UK, so his organ can allegedly be harvested.
‘How We Learnt Of Daughter’s Kidney Failure’
It is claimed the young man was falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin in a failed bid to persuade medics to carry out an £80,000 private procedure at the Royal Free Hospital.
It is also alleged that the donor was to be paid a financial reward for his kidney, which would have made the transplant unlawful.
Giving evidence on Monday, Mrs Ekweremadu told jurors, “My family means everything to me. Our children are the most important gift God has given to us and we cherish them.
“Let me paint a picture of one of the things we do as a family: When my first son was at the University of Lancashire studying law he complained about one of the modules, and my husband spent the whole day teaching and guiding him through.
“What I teach my children is this family, each and every one of us, that’s the only thing we have so if anything is happening to your siblings you have to get on it.
“When something is happening to one of us, one of our siblings, nobody will rest until that is solved.”
The mother-of-four, who worked full-time in the Nigerian auditor general’s office, told jurors her husband took care of the household finances, according to the Nigerian custom.
Her husband had a staff of around 80 people, including drivers and domestic staff, but she cooked for him at home because “he prefers eating my food”, she said.
She described how her daughter became sick after returning home for Christmas in 2019.
“Sonia’s legs started swelling, looking shiny like a balloon like it’s going to burst open,” she said, according to a Daily Mail report.
Initially, her daughter was advised at a clinic that it could be to do with travelling and to put her legs up, the court heard.
The family cut their plans short and Sonia returned to London to see a doctor at the Cromwell Hospital and then the Royal Free, jurors were told.
(TNT)
