The daughter of Senator Ike Ekweremad has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to charges of trafficking a homeless man into the United Kingdom to harvest his kidney.
The 25-year-old is charged alongside her father Ike Ekweremadu, her mother, Beatrice, and Doctor Obinna Obeta.
Ike, Beatrice, and Obeta denied conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation at the Old Bailey on December 20, while Sonia pleaded not guilty on Friday, Daily Mail reported.
Ike and Beatrice Ekweremadu were arrested after the young man, who previously lived on the streets of Lagos, claimed he was a victim of trafficking at Staines police station and fingered them as being his traffickers.
The man told officers he arrived in the UK on February 20, 2022, and was taken to Royal Free Hospital for tests, none of which he consented to.
After the tests, he returned to the house he was staying in, where he was ‘treated effectively as a slave.’
He said he escaped the place and was homeless for three days before going to the police.
Daily Mail gathered that the trial will begin at the Old Bailey on January 31 before High Court Justice Adam Johnson.
Ekweremadu, a lawyer and former deputy president of the Senate, and his wife Beatrice were arrested in the UK on June 21 after flying to Heathrow from Turkey.
