The Westminster Magistrate Court in London, United Kingdom (UK) has ruled that David Ukpo, who is in the middle of the organ harvesting trial of Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, is not a minor.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the London court passed the ruling on Thursday, while adjourning the case till August 4.
Earlier, TNG had reported the arrival of Ekweremadu and his at the West Minister Magistrates Court for the continuation of their trial.
The prosecution have accepted that David Ukpo is 21, contrary to the claim of 15. The case was, thereafter, adjourned and transferred to the Criminal Court in Central London.
Ekweremadu and Beatrice are to remain in custody till the next hearing date, per the court ruling. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Recall that on Wednesday, a Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria ordered the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to supply the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) with the certified true copy (CTC) of biodata information of David Ukpo for onward transmission to the UK.
Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the order following an omnibus application made by Muazu Mohammed, counsel for NIMC, to the effect.
Ekweremadu and wife, Beatrice had, in the application dated and filed on June 27 by their lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, sued NIMC and four others.
Others mentioned in the suit are the Comptroller General (C-G), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); Stanbic-IBTC Bank; United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc as 2nd to 5th respondents respectively.
In the originating summons marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2022, the couple prayed the court for an order directing all the defendants to supply them with the CTC of Ukpo’s biodata in their care for the purpose of facilitating the criminal investigation and tendering same to establish their innocence with respect to Ukpo’s age in the criminal charges against them.
Justice Ekwo granted the couple’s prayers by directing all the defendants to release the CTC of Ukpo’s biodata to the Ekweremadus.
In his ruling, Justice Ekwo ordered NIMC to supply the information of biodata of David Ukpo’s national identification number which is in its care to the AGF for onward transmission to the UK.
The couple were, on June 23, remanded in the UK police custody, after they were first arraigned before the Uxbridge Magistrate Court for alleged conspiracy to facilitate the travel of Ukpo, alleged to be a minor, for organ harvesting.
They, however, denied the allegations and the court adjourned till July 7 for hearing.
Ekweremadu also appeared before the Uxbridge Magistrate Court on June 30 where he was denied a bail.
