Ugandan High Court Judge Lydia Mugambe, who sits on a United Nations criminal tribunal, made her first appearance in British court Thursday to face charges of tricking a young Ugandan woman into serving as her slave while she studied at Oxford.
Mugambe, 49, was accused of “taking advantage of her status” in “the most egregious way” by bringing the young female victim into the United Kingdom, then using various forms of manipulation and intimidation to make her provide unpaid domestic services, including household chores and taking care of Mugambe’s children.
Prosecutors say Mugambe conspired with John Leonard Mugerwa, who was Uganda’s Deputy High Commissioner at the time, to secure the victim’s entry into the United Kingdom. Mugambe allegedly tried to bring the girl to London as a student, but when this did not work, she allegedly traded favors with Mugerwa to get him to sponsor the girl as a domestic worker in his household. In exchange, Mugambe promised to speak with a judge presiding over a legal action that involved Mugerwa.
The charges filed against Mugambe said her intention all along was to facilitate the victim’s travel “with a view to her being exploited” for compulsory labor. After she was accepted into the United Kingdom, Mugambe allegedly used threats and deception to keep her from finding any gainful employment, effectively turning her into an indentured servant by insisting she perform unpaid domestic labor until her “debt” to Mugambe for getting her to London was “repaid.”
The police became involved in February 2023, after an especially bitter argument between Mugambe and the victim. Police bodycam footage captured Mugambe insisting the victim was happy with their arrangement because, as she put it, “who wants to go back to Africa when she can work?”
“I think it’s one of two things. She wants to work more. This is what happens exactly when they come, they get excited about the pound and then they want to work much more than the terms they came on, so that’s what she wants,” Mugambe told the police to explain the victim’s complaints against her.
The distraught victim was packing her things while the police spoke with Mugambe. The victim said she had been effectively held prisoner at the house since arriving in July 2022, forbidden to leave until she repaid her “travel debt” to the judge through compulsory service.
An additional charge was leveled against Mugambe for attempting to intimidate the victim into dropping all complaints against her. Mugambe allegedly asked a fellow conspirator to get the victim’s pastor to pressure her into dropping the case about two weeks before she went to court.
Police told the Oxford Crown Court that Mugambe falsely claimed to have “diplomatic immunity” when they cautioned her against attempting to intimidate the victim. She also falsely claimed she could not be arrested because she had diplomatic immunity.
Mugambe denied all of the charges against her, telling the court that she did not withhold the victim’s passport, did not force her to perform any domestic services, and would have allowed her to leave the house at any time. She said the victim had her own keys to the house and was not physically prevented from leaving.
According to her U.N. International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals profile, Mugambe has been a judge on the High Court of Uganda since 2013, and was appointed to the U.N. tribunal in May 2023. She holds law degrees from universities in Uganda, South Africa, and Sweden, and is “currently a doctoral researcher in law at the University of Oxford.”
“Judge Mugambe is a member of several professional associations, including the International Association of Women Judges, the East Africa Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, the Uganda Women Judges’ Association, the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, and the Oxford Human Rights Hub. She has published and presented on issues of human rights and children’s rights,” the U.N. noted.
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