A United Nations judge has been convicted of forcing a young Ugandan woman to work as a slave in Britain.
Lydia Mugambe was also found guilty of conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
The 49-year-old defendant denied forcing her victim to do household chores and said she “always” treated her with love, care and patience.
But prosecutors said she prevented the woman from holding down steady employment and forced her to work as her maid and provide childcare for free.
Mugambe, who was studying for a law PhD at the University of Oxford, took “advantage of her status” over her victim in the “most egregious way” and tricked her into coming to the UK, a court heard.
The trial was told Mugambe, who is also a High Court judge in Uganda, had the intention of “obtaining someone to make her life easier and at the least possible cost to herself”.
Victim felt ‘lonely’ and ‘stuck’
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court previously that she felt “lonely” and “stuck” after her working hours were limited.
During the trial at Oxford Crown Court, Paul Raudnitz KC, defending, asked Mugambe if she arranged the woman’s travel intending to exploit her in Britain.
Mugambe said: “I never exploited [the woman] in Uganda, why would I exploit her in the UK?”
Mr Raudnitz also asked Mugambe if the woman ever “worked under a threat of penalty or consequence from you”, and the defendant replied “no”.
Mugambe was appointed to the United Nations’s judicial roster in May 2023, according to her UN profile page.
That was three months after police were called to her address in Oxfordshire.
In body-worn footage from when police went to the defendant’s home, Mugambe said “I’m a judge and she came to help me with work”, according to the prosecution.
Prosecutors had also told the jury that the defendant’s account now is that the woman never worked for her and carried out “light tasks”.
Defendant ‘exploited and abused’ victim
Caroline Haughey KC, for the prosecution, said in court: “Lydia Mugambe has exploited and abused (the woman), taking advantage of her lack of understanding of her rights to properly paid employment and deceiving her as to the purpose of her coming to the UK.”
Jurors accepted the prosecution’s claim that Mugambe had engaged in “illegal folly” with Ugandan deputy high commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa in which they conspired to arrange for the young woman to go to Britain.
The pair took part in a “very dishonest” trade-off, where Mr Mugerwa arranged for the Ugandan High Commission to sponsor the woman’s entrance into the UK in exchange for Mugambe trying to talk to a judge who headed a legal action Mr Mugerwa was named in.
