Ugandan High Court Judge Lydia Mugambe. Photo/COURSTEY
The Oxford Crown Court in the UK is today expected to pass its sentence against Ugandan Judge Lydia Mugambe, having been found guilty of modern slavery, a couple of months ago. The offence of modern slavery in the UK carries up to a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. Justice Mugambe, 50, a High Court judge who was at the time pursuing her PhD in law at Oxford University, UK, allegedly lured a Ugandan girl into the UK and forced her to work as an unpaid domestic maid and nanny.
On March 13, this year, the court found Justice Mugambe guilty of conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration laws, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness. The court went on and reserved the passing of the sentence until today. The prosecutors said Justice Mugambe took “advantage of her status” over her victim in the “most egregious way” by steady employment and forcing her to work as her maid and provide childcare for free.
This was after the Thames Valley police launched their inquiry on February 10, 2023, after receiving a report that the victim was being held as a slave at Justice Mugambe’s Oxfordshire address. “A protracted and complex investigation involving several partners then ensued, during which Thames Valley police established that Mugambe had obtained a visa for the victim to work in the UK,” the force’s website stated. They added: “However, the terms of this visa were that the victim would be paid to work for the then Deputy High Commissioner at the Ugandan Embassy in London, John Mugerwa. Mugambe paid for the victim’s plane ticket to the UK, picked her up from the airport, and thereafter the victim became Mugambe’s slave, carrying out unpaid work as a domestic maid and nanny.”
Prosecutors allege that Mugerwa, who, at the time, enjoyed diplomatic immunity, sponsored the visa in exchange for legal assistance from Mugambe on a separate case in Uganda. The government did not waive his immunity, and no charges have been brought against him. Close family sources have insisted that the judge is a victim of a scheme by a Ugandan woman whom she helped to travel to the UK, but instead joined bad groups who misadvised her on what strategies she could use to quickly get asylum there. It’s believed that when the woman in question reached the UK, her peers advised her to report to the police that she was being held by the judge against her will, that is when the police swung in and had the judge charged.
Bilateral deals
The sentencing of Justice Mugambe comes barely three weeks after Justice Minister Norbert Mao, on behalf of Uganda, signed bilateral statutory instruments with the United Kingdom, China, Turkey, and South Korea to transfer convicted prisoners between the countries, Monitor confirms. “In exercise of the powers conferred on the minister responsible for justice by the Transfer of Convicted Offenders Act, this Instrument is made this day of April 13,” the document reads. The pacts allow Ugandan nationals jailed in partner countries to serve the remainder of their sentences at home and permit foreign nationals convicted in Uganda to be repatriated. Legal analysts said the signing of the pacts would facilitate Justice Mugambe’s return to Uganda, from where she will serve her sentence and probably get a presidential pardon before she serves her entire sentence.
Investigation.
“A protracted and complex investigation involving several partners then ensued [after receiving a report that a victim of modern slevery was being held at Justice Mugambe’s Oxfordshire address], during which Thames Valley police established that Mugambe had obtained a visa for the victim to work in the UK,” the Thames Valley police website in UK states.
