A judge convicted of forcing women to work as a slave

The prosecutors said that Lydia Mugambe, 49, took advantage of “the advantage of his status” over his victim of the “most atrocious way” by preventing him from maintaining stable employment and forced her to work as her maid and provide child care for free.

Mugambe, who is also a judge of the Superior Court in Uganda, was declared guilty of conspiring to facilitate the commission of a violation of the United Kingdom immigration law, facilitating trips in order to exploit, force someone to work and conspiracy to intimidate a witness after a trial in the Oxford crown court.

Caroline Haughey, prosecuting, told the jury during the trial: “Lydia Mugambe has exploded and abused (her alleged victim), taking advantage of her lack of understanding of her rights to pay for employment properly and deceive her about the purpose of reaching the United Kingdom.”

The jury members accepted the case of the Prosecutor’s Office that Mugambe, who was studying for a legal doctorate at the University of Oxford, had dedicated himself to “illegal madness” with the Uganda high commissioner, John Leonard Mugerwa, in which they conspired to organize the young woman to come to the United Kingdom.

The prosecutors said that the couple participated in a “very dishonest” compensation, in which Mugerwa organized that the high commission of Uganda sponsored the entrance of women into the United Kingdom in exchange for Mugambe to try to speak with a judge who was in charge of the legal action that Mugerwa was appointed.

Mugambe’s trial heard that he intended to “obtain someone so that his life is easier and at least possible cost for herself.”

Mugambe denied forcing the young Ugandesa woman to do domestic tasks and said “always” treated her with love, care and patience.

The young Mugambe cheated to reach the United Kingdom, who cannot be appointed for legal reasons, told the court previously that she felt “alone” and “stuck” after his hours of work were limited.

According to its UN profile page, Mugambe was appointed for the body’s judicial list in May 2023, three months after the police were called to their address in Oxfordshire.