By Lekan Adejuwon
In a new twist to a kidney transplant that turned sour, David Nwamini, the boy at the centre of the arrest and prosecution of former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has appealed to the UK government to be allowed to stay in the country.
He made the request in his impact statement read in court at the sentencing.
In the statement, the 21-year-old David recalled how he was approached with an opportunity to work in the UK which he had always wished.
“He (Obeta) did not tell me he brought me here for this reason. He did not tell me anything about this. I would have not agreed. My body is not for sale.
“I worry for my safety in Nigeria. I think they could arrest me or kill me in Nigeria. My plan now is to work, get an education and to play football,” he said.
The citizen added that he does not want to claim any compensation from the “bad people” as it would be “cursed and bad luck.”
The former Senate President who clocks 61 on May 12, his wife Beatrice, 56, and the doctor-middleman, Obinna Obeta, 51, were jailed today in London.
The trio were sentenced to 10 years and 8 months, 4 years and six months, and 10 years after they were found guilty at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey).
“In each of your cases, the offence you committed is so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence can be justified”, Justice Johnson said.
The Ekweremadus ran into trouble over the circumstances surrounding an organ donation for their 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, who has a severe kidney disease.
David was to be rewarded for making the donation to ailing Sonia in an £80,000 private procedure at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
It is legal to donate a kidney in Britain, but not for financial or material reward. The maximum sentence for offence is life imprisonment.
Friday’s judgement is the first delivered in an organ harvesting conspiracy charge brought under the UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act.
Metropolitan Police’s Modern Slavery and Exploitation Command officer, Detective Inspector Esther Richardson hailed the “landmark conviction” and thanked David for his “bravery”
