Sonia Ekweremadu, the 25-year-old daughter of former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, has lost her bid to be excused from her parent’s trials n in the UK.
Justice Johnson at the Old Bailey denied Sonia’s request to not stand trial with her father and mother on ‘conspiracy to harvest organs’ allegations.
Sonia was docked with her mother, Beatrice. Ike Ekweremadu, on the other hand, watched the events through video conference.
He sat motionless as the court concluded that Sonia was not unfit to face a “criminal trial spanning seven weeks,” as her defense attorney, Femi Oni, had claimed.
Sonia’s counsel and the Crown prosecutor utilized expert witness testimony and report to back up their claims in court.
After the application for a stay of proceedings was denied on the grounds that she is medically and psychologically unfit due to her ongoing thrice-weekly dialysis, both sides of the bench led their expert witnesses in testimony via video link, beginning with the Manchester-based professor that Oni had lined up.
The professor also relied on the report of a consultant psychiatrist.
Dr. Andrews served as Dr. Davies’ expert witness. Though he acknowledged having no direct consultation with Sonia, he indicated that if the court’s meeting times were altered to afternoons to suit her treatment days, she would be capable of standing trial. In his evidence, Andrew informed the court that “residual dialysis symptoms do not make it difficult to attend trial.
After hearing from the barristers and their expert witnesses, including their reports, and acknowledging that the treatment is taxing her and that she has had to withdraw from her Masters degree program as a result of her diagnosis, the judge stated that it is not confirmed that her recovery or clinical care would suffer if she were to stand trial.
