Alleged organ harvesting victim pleads for ‘someone to save my life’ after entering police station
A Nigerian street vendor who was allegedly trafficked to the UK for organ harvesting walked into a police station and said he was “looking for someone to save my life”, a court heard.
A 21-year-old boy from Lagosslept three nights before appearing in the Stains The police station appealed for help in May last year, the Old Bailey was told.
It is believed that the young man was the victim of a conspiracy to take his kidney for a transplant procedure Royal Free Hospital in the north London.
Jurors saw a photo of him smiling and sharing food with the alleged recipient, Sonia Ekweremadu, the 25-year-old daughter of high-ranking Nigerian politician Ike Ekweremadu.
It is alleged that before meeting doctors in London he was coached and told to say he was Ms Ekerawadu’s cousin, when in fact they were not related.
Old Bailey learned that the proposed donor, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, absconded after doctors decided he was not a suitable candidate.
In body-worn footage shown in court on Tuesday, he appeared to be crying and distressed as he walked into a police station and spoke to a woman at reception.
He repeatedly told the woman that he had “no documents” because he had been brought into the country by a man he met in Lagos.
He said: “He took me to hospital to have my kidneys removed. The doctor said I was too young but the man said if you don’t do it here he will take me back to Nigeria and do it there.
When told he was in Staines, he said: “I don’t know where I am. I slept on the street for three days, looking for someone to help me, to save my life.”
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, Sonya, 25, and medical “broker” Obina Abeta, 50, are accused of conspiring to arrange or facilitate the young man’s trip to Britain for the purpose of its exploitation.
The court had earlier heard that he hailed from a village in Nigeria and was allegedly recruited by Dr. Obeta while selling phone accessories from a wheelbarrow in Lagos.
Giving evidence, he told jurors he thought he had been brought to the UK for work and only found out it was for a kidney transplant when he visited the Royal Free Hospital.
The young man was “shocked”, wanted to cry and told jurors: “Nobody told me about the kidney transplant”.
In a videotaped interview, he told police he was treated like a “slave” at the London home where he lived.
He claimed he was told he should continue the operation in exchange for 1.2 million naira (about £2,000).
He said: “I was scared because I don’t know what they are going to do to me.”
He initially set out on foot from London, not knowing where he was going and asking any black people he saw for help.
Despite being given money, he had nowhere to stay, so he decided to ask for directions to the police station, the court was told.
Ekweremadus, of Willesden Green, North West London, and Obeta, of Southwarksouth London, deny the charges against them and the trial at the Old Bailey continues.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/london-old-bailey-britain-royal-free-hospital-lagos-b2286494.html