Woman who’s alleged she was kept as slave says she felt isolated
A trial continues at Oxford Crown Court
Last updated 19th Feb 2025
A young woman allegedly tricked into coming to the UK to work as a slave for a United Nations judge felt "lonely" and "stuck" after her working hours were limited, a trial has heard.
Lydia Mugambe took "advantage of her status" over the Ugandan woman in the "most egregious way" while she studied for a PhD in law at the University of Oxford, prosecutors say.
Mugambe, 49, who is also a High Court judge in Uganda, stopped the woman holding down steady employment and forced her to work as her maid and provide childcare, it is alleged.
On Wednesday, jurors at Oxford Crown Court were shown a recorded police interview in which the woman said she arrived in the UK on July 9 2022 believing that Mugambe would help her find a job outside her childcare duties.
However, when the woman started working, Mugambe told her to inform her employers she could not work at weekends because her children would be at home alone, the court heard.
Mugambe allegedly said to the woman that if police found the children alone at the address in Oxfordshire she could be "locked up", jurors were told.
The woman said she wanted to work but could not because she was under Mugambe's "instruction", the court heard.
She told police her bosses cut the number of days she worked and there was one week when she did not work, the trial was told.
Jurors heard that she "lost all hope" and "felt very stuck".
In the interview, the woman, who cannot be named, told police: "I was so stuck and I felt so lonely... at home she (Mugambe) was changing every day, she was a different person."
The woman was afraid to talk to other people in case they told Mugambe about her concerns, jurors heard.
When she eventually told Mugambe she wanted to return to Uganda, the defendant allegedly replied: "How will I profit from that? What will I do with the child?", the court heard.
The UN judge also allegedly told the woman that if she was "patient" and waited two years Mugambe could help "process" her so she could stay in the UK.
Jurors heard that the judge allegedly said she would cancel the woman's visa and hire someone else.
She also suggested getting another person to work alongside the woman but this never happened, the court heard.
The woman told police: "Things were getting worse and changing every day and I had that pain where I could not turn to anyone, there was no one to talk to."
Mugambe is accused of engaging in "illegal folly" with Ugandan deputy high commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa in which they conspired to arrange for the woman to come to the UK.
The defendant is also alleged to have attempted to intimidate her alleged victim into dropping the case.
She denies conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
The trial continues.