Beatrice, the wife of former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has told the Old Bailey Court in London that she was not involved in the search for an organ donor for their ailing daughter, Sonia.
Beatrice, her husband, daughter, and one medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, are facing charges in the United Kingdom for allegedly luring a young man from Nigeria to harvest his kidney for Sonia.
Senator Ekweremadu was arrested in 2022 and has been in the custody of UK authorities after they received complaints from the young man about an alleged plan to harvest his organ.
The young man, a trader from Lagos, was to be rewarded for donating a kidney to Sonia in an £80,000 private procedure at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
However, Beatrice, while speaking on the family’s finances, told the court on Monday, March 13 that her husband took care of the house, stating that she only carried out domestic duties which included visiting their children in school in the UK every couple of weeks.
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On how they discovered that their daughter had a kidney problem, her husband said Sonia fell sick in 2019 and was diagnosed with the problem in the UK.
According to BBC, Ekweremadu added that Sonia later returned to London to see a doctor at the Cromwell Hospital and then the Royal Free.
The defence lawyer, Anu Mohindru, said: “There are text messages from your husband keeping you informed of what was happening. Is that something he would do?”
The defendant replied: “Yes. He tells me what he thinks I need to know.”
The lawyer went on to inquire if Ekweremadu had relayed his discussions with his medically trained brother, Diwe.
Beatrice told jurors she regarded Diwe Ekweremadu as the family doctor but did not ask about it.
It is alleged that Diwe’s former classmate, Obeta, offered to help the family.
Mohindru asked the defendant if she was involved in identifying any candidates, which Beatrice denied.
The Ekweremadus, with an address in Willesden Green, North-West London, and Obeta, from Southwark, South London, deny the charges against them and the trial at the Old Bailey continues.
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