Lydia Mugambe, 50, a United Nations judge and human rights lawyer, has
been sentenced to six years and four months’ imprisonment for forcing a woman
to work unpaid as a domestic slave at her home in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
In a written statement, read to the court by prosecutor Caroline Haughey KC, the victim- who cannot be named for legal reasons - described living in "almost constant fear" due to Mugambe's powerful standing in Uganda. She said "she can't go back to Uganda" due to fear of what may happen to her and added that she might not see her mother again.
Mugambe was studying for a PhD in law at Oxford University when police discovered she had a young Ugandan woman at her home carrying out unpaid work as a maid and nanny. She fraudulently arranged a visa for the woman that claimed that the woman would work as a private servant at the diplomatic residence of John Mugerwa, Uganda's former deputy high commissioner, based at the country's embassy in London. Prosecutors said that Mugerwa sponsored the victims visa knowing that she would work in servitude for Mugambe. As a quid pro quo, Mugambe had given him legal assistance in a court case in Uganda in which he was the defendant.
The Crown Prosecution Service authorised the police to charge Mugerwa with conspiracy but he had diplomatic immunity which the Ugandan government didn't waive.
A University of Oxford spokesperson said they were "appalled" by its student's crimes.
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