Ugandan High Court Judge Lydia Mugambe, who also serves on a United Nations criminal tribunal, was dragged to a British court March 6, 2025 on charges of slavery. The Crown alleges that she tricked a young Ugandan woman into being her slave. The prosecutor says the victim was tricked and coerced into providing unpaid labor.
The case claims Mugambe conspired with Uganda’s then-Deputy High Commissioner, John Leonard Mugerwa, to bring the victim to the UK. The Judge supposedly tried to bring the girl to London as a student, but when this scheme failed, she traded favors with Mugerwa to get him to sponsor the girl as a domestic worker. Mugambe promised to intervene on his behalf in a legal action as payment.
Crown Prosecutor Caroline Haughey, opened the case by saying, “You may think there can be little doubt as to her intelligence, and her ability to understand not only the basic rights of others but also the law concerning those rights. It is after all her role as a judge to ensure that the law is properly interpreted and applied.”She added that “It is the Crown’s case… that Ms Mugambe took advantage of her status over (her alleged victim) in a most egregious way.”
“Ms Mugambe used her knowledge, and her power, to deceive (her alleged victim) into coming to the UK, taking advantage of her naivety to induce and deceive her into working for her for nothing,” Haughey added. “Ms Mugambe created a situation where (her alleged victim)… was deprived of the opportunity to support herself by preventing her from being able to hold down steady employment or to earn any money unless it was done at the whim or convenience of Ms Mugambe.”
“This was her intention from the outset when arranging (the alleged victim) to come to the UK: obtaining someone to make her life easier and at the least possible cost to herself,” the prosecutor explained. “Lydia Mugambe has exploited and abused (her alleged victim), 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.”
“On her arrival she was made to work for Lydia Mugambe from the very start, unremunerated and acting as maid and for child care to give Ms Mugambe back her life,” the lawyer told the court. “Deprived of her freedom to choose her own work, to control her ID documents, she was beholden to Lydia Mugambe.” In her statement, the prosecutor offered insight as to how the alleged crime was committed.
“If there was any doubt about this, it can be removed by considering that the minute (her alleged victim) challenged Ms Mugambe’s authority and tried to have control of her own ID documents, she was threatened with being returned to Uganda and informed she had to pay back a travel debt she never even knew she had,” Haughey orated.
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“A young woman brought in for the convenience of Ms Mugambe’s life but mistreated – mistreated by Ms Mugambe, a woman of power and intelligence who had no qualms in lying to not only (her alleged victim) but to the police when they sought to ensure her safety and wellbeing,” she concluded. Despite the damning evidence, Mugambe has denied all charges and maitines her innocence.