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.
News Point Nigeria reports that the Ekweremadus travelled with Obeta and the alleged victim to the UK, so his organ can allegedly be harvested.
