A rich couple “took a young man to the UK from Nigeria to get a kidney for their sick daughter in exchange for 7 thousand pounds”

A WEALTH couple flew a man to the UK to get a kidney for their sick daughter in exchange for £7,000, a court heard.

Sonia Ekweremadu, 25, Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and Beatrice Nwaneka Ekweremadu, 55, allegedly sold the 21-year-old from Lagos, Nigeria.

They are accused of wanting to get his organs for Sonya, who suffers from kidney failure and needs dialysis.

The couple were “significant figures” in Nigerian society and had “considerable wealth”, the Old Bailey was told.

Ike Ekweremadu was a senior senator in the Nigerian Parliament, it was said.

But prosecutor Hugh Davies KC said: “However, there are some things that money and status cannot guarantee in any family and that includes good health.”

The jury heard Sonia’s kidney condition was “deteriorating” and she needed a transplant to cure it.

The trio allegedly hatched a plan to bring a poor Nigerian street vendor to the UK to harvest his organ.

They found a donor who was earning a few pounds a day selling phone parts from a pushcart in public markets.

Jurors heard the family moved him to London in February 2022 with an agreement to pay up to £7,000 and the promise of a better life.

Once there, the man was trained to give false answers to doctors at the Royal Free Hospital – including claiming Sonia was his cousin.

But the court was told he had “limited understanding” of why he was visiting the hospital and was “relieved” to be told the procedure would not go ahead.

The Ekweremadus deny conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of a young person for the purpose of exploitation between August 1, 2021 and May 5, 2022.

Their alleged medical “mediator” Dr. Obina Abeta denies the same allegation.

The trial continues.

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