A prominent Ugandan judge and United Nations official, Lydia Mugambe, 50, has been sentenced to six years and four months in prison for exploiting a Ugandan woman as a domestic slave while living in the UK.
The sentencing, handed down on Friday at Oxford Crown Court, followed Mugambe’s conviction in March for modern slavery offences. At the time of the abuse, Mugambe was pursuing a PhD in law at the University of Oxford.
Authorities discovered that a young Ugandan woman was living in Mugambe’s home in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, where she worked without pay as a maid and nanny. Investigators revealed that the victim was subjected to long hours of unpaid labor under coercive conditions.
Judge David Foxton, presiding over the case, said Mugambe showed “absolutely no remorse” and instead sought to “blame the victim” for her circumstances. Despite Mugambe’s background as a human rights advocate and a sitting High Court judge in Uganda, the court found her actions deeply contradictory to the principles she once upheld.
The victim had entered the UK on a visa fraudulently arranged by Mugambe. The documents falsely indicated that she would be employed at the residence of John Mugerwa, Uganda’s former deputy high commissioner in London. Prosecutors argued that this arrangement was a cover-up, with Mugerwa knowingly sponsoring the visa in exchange for legal assistance from Mugambe in an unrelated court matter in Uganda.
The victim, whose identity remains protected, described living in “almost constant fear” due to Mugambe’s influential status back home. In a statement read in court by prosecutor Caroline Haughey KC, the woman expressed her deep trauma and fear of returning to Uganda, stating she may never reunite with her mother again.
Ms Haughey also emphasized that Mugambe had manipulated the woman’s lack of understanding of UK employment laws and misled her about the nature of her trip to the UK.
“There was a clear and significant imbalance of power,” Haughey said, adding that the victim had been deceived and exploited from the start.
Judge Foxton called the case a “very sad one,” especially considering Mugambe’s past legal achievements and involvement in human rights work. However, he noted that such accomplishments did not excuse the serious abuse of power that took place.
