In a case that has shocked both the legal and academic worlds, a United Nations judge and doctoral student at the University of Oxford, Lydia Mugambe, has been sentenced to six years and four months in prison for keeping a young Ugandan woman in conditions of modern slavery.
The 50-year-old, who also serves as a High Court judge in Uganda, was convicted in March and sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday. Prosecutors described how Mugambe brought the woman into the UK under false pretenses, then forced her to work without pay as a maid and nanny in her home in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
At the time, Mugambe was pursuing a PhD in law at Oxford University, a bitter irony given the serious nature of her crimes.
During sentencing, Judge David Foxton didn’t hold back, stating Mugambe had shown “absolutely no remorse” and had tried to shift blame onto the victim. He acknowledged Mugambe’s achievements in law and human rights but said her actions stood in complete contradiction to everything her professional life represented.
According to the prosecution, Mugambe fraudulently secured a visa for the victim under the pretense that she would be working as a domestic servant at Uganda’s diplomatic residence in London. But the real arrangement, they said, was far more sinister.
The visa was sponsored by John Mugerwa, Uganda’s former deputy high commissioner to the UK. He allegedly entered into a deal with Mugambe: he would facilitate the visa, and she would assist him with a court case back home in Uganda. The young woman, meanwhile, became the silent casualty in this exchange of favors.
Prosecutor Caroline Haughey KC told the court that after Mugambe met the victim at the airport, she was taken directly to Mugambe’s residence and soon found herself trapped in domestic servitude. She wasn’t paid, wasn’t free to leave, and lived in constant fear—fear intensified by her employer’s legal influence in their home country.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court through a statement that her days were filled with dread. “I lived in almost constant fear because of who she was,” she said. “I can’t return to Uganda. I’m afraid of what might happen to me there. I may never see my mother again.”
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Mugambe, in her defense, claimed she had treated the woman with kindness, asserting that there was no abuse. But the court saw it differently. Prosecutors highlighted how Mugambe manipulated the young woman’s limited understanding of her rights and intentionally deceived her about the nature of the work she’d come to the UK to do.
Despite evidence tying him to the scheme, Mr. Mugerwa was not charged, as his diplomatic immunity shielded him from prosecution—an immunity the Ugandan government chose not to waive.
Chief Superintendent Ben Clark of Thames Valley Police described the case as a “clear example” of hidden modern slavery. “There’s no doubt Mugambe knew exactly what she was doing,” he said. “This is a crime that often hides in plain sight, and I hope this brave survivor’s testimony will encourage other victims to come forward.”
The University of Oxford, where Mugambe had been enrolled as a student, issued a firm statement distancing itself from her actions. “We are appalled by this case,” a spokesperson said. “The university has begun disciplinary procedures, which may lead to her being removed as a student.”
This disturbing case lays bare the uncomfortable truth that even those who champion justice on paper are not immune to committing grave injustices in practice. For one young woman, what was supposed to be a new opportunity turned into a nightmare. For Mugambe, the law she once upheld has now passed judgment on her.
