The household of a Ugandan United Nation’s choose found guilty of modern slavery costs in the present day insisted she had been sort to her sufferer – and blamed her conviction on ‘cultural variations’ within the UK.
Lydia Mugambe, 49, handled her sufferer as an ‘unpaid skivvy’, profiting from the lady within the ‘most egregious means’, a courtroom heard yesterday because the unanimous verdict was delivered.
Authorities had been first alerted of the crimes when the sufferer advised a pal in regards to the abuse, who later reported it to police.
Upon Mugambe’s arrest final yr at her dwelling in Kiddlington, Oxfordshire, Mugambe, who was learning for a regulation PhD at Oxford University, insisted the sufferer had ‘requested’ to work for her.
‘I’m a choose in my nation. I even have immunity. I’m not a legal. I’ve a diplomatic passport,’ she advised cops, earlier than once more blaming the sufferer who she tricked into coming to the UK.
However in the present day, a detailed member of the family dwelling in Kampala advised MailOnline ‘cultural variations’ between life within the UK in comparison with the East African nation are accountable.
‘The tradition within the UK and the tradition in Africa is totally different,’ the member of the family, who requested to stay nameless, stated.
‘In Africa you could possibly have three totally different generations in the identical home. It does not occur right here. That is the distinction I’m speaking about. All of us assist one another out.’
The household of Ugandan United Nation’s choose Lydia Mugambe, who was discovered responsible of contemporary slavery costs, in the present day insisted she had been sort to her sufferer – and blamed her conviction on ‘cultural variations’ within the UK
Lydia Mugambe, 49, handled her sufferer as an ‘unpaid skivvy’, profiting from the lady within the ‘most egregious means’, a courtroom heard yesterday because the unanimous verdict was delivered
The relative claimed that Mugambe had recognized the sufferer for 17 years, taking her off the streets earlier than offering her with a house and a paying job taking care of her kids.
‘Now we have recognized her for thus lengthy, all her life. She didn’t convey her right here into slavery, she is right here as a result of she needed a lifetime of her personal,’ they stated.
‘Lydia is a UN choose, she is a humanitarian, she is in opposition to all of those types of issues that she has been accused of. She has helped so many individuals, so many households.
‘It’s simply so disappointing the judgement right here, to say that she is responsible of this accusation is bogus.’
At Oxford Crown Court docket yesterday, Mugambe, was discovered responsible of facilitating journey with a view to exploitation, forcing somebody to work, commissioning the breach of UK immigration regulation and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
It got here after Thames Valley Police had been alerted that the lady was being held as a slave by Mugambe at her tackle in Brasenose Drive – a rented property, the place neighbours say she lived for under a short time frame.
When confronted about her crimes on February 10 2023, the UN choose advised officers: ‘I’m a choose in my nation. I even have immunity. I’m not a legal. I’ve a diplomatic passport.’
‘I got here right here as a pupil. I do not want anybody to work for me,’ she added. ‘I did not come together with her, she requested me. As a result of she has labored at my dwelling earlier than.’
Lydia Mugambe, 49, had her eyes extensive in disbelief when a policeman confronted her in her Oxfordshire dwelling on February 10, 2023
At one level within the video, Mugambe says: ‘I’m a choose in my nation. I even have immunity. I’m not a legal. I’ve a diplomatic passport’
The relative stated that the sufferer had her faculty charges paid for by Mugambe again in Kampala earlier than starting to work for the household 10 years in the past.
The emotional member of the family claimed that the sufferer had made up the abuse in a bid to achieve asylum.
‘This lady has been in our household for thus lengthy and to return right here and say she was a slave as a result of she desires asylum given to her and put my sister in jail is simply so unjust,’ the lady stated.
‘The courts and the jury, the cultural variations and every part that occurred. They didn’t do any investigations. They simply concluded that it was due to the standing distinction between the 2 of them.
‘Lydia knew this lady for 17 years. It has not simply occurred. Lydia introduced the younger lady off the road into her dwelling to work and assist together with her children, in a house,’ she added.
‘Now she introduced her into a house to present her an training and return to highschool. She paid for her faculty charges in Uganada and invited her right here to increase her training.
‘However then she received the concept she might keep and do one thing and that is what occurred.’
Mugambe was within the dock at Oxford Crown Court docket yesterday the place prosecutors blasted her for profiting from the sufferer within the ‘most egregious means’.
Mugambe, who can be a Excessive Court docket choose in Uganda, was discovered responsible on Thursday of conspiring to facilitate the fee of a breach of UK immigration regulation
She was discovered responsible of conspiring to facilitate the fee of a breach of UK immigration regulation.
Prosecutor Caroline Haughey KC advised jurors: ‘Lydia Mugambe has exploited and abused (her alleged sufferer), profiting from her lack of knowledge of her rights to correctly paid employment and deceiving her as to the aim of her coming to the UK.’
Jurors accepted the prosecution’s case that Mugambe had engaged in ‘unlawful folly’ with Ugandan deputy excessive commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa, wherein they conspired to rearrange for the younger lady to return to the UK.
Prosecutors stated the pair participated in a ‘very dishonest’ trade-off, wherein Mr Mugerwa organized for the Ugandan Excessive Fee to sponsor the lady’s entrance into the UK.
In alternate, Mugambe tried to talk to a choose who was in command of authorized motion Mr Mugerwa was named in.
Mugambe’s trial heard she had the intention of ‘acquiring somebody to make her life simpler and as a minimum attainable value to herself’.
She denied forcing the younger Ugandan lady to do family chores and stated she ‘at all times’ handled her with love, care and persistence.
The younger lady Mugambe tricked into coming to the UK, who can’t be named for authorized causes, advised the courtroom beforehand she felt ‘lonely’ and ‘caught’ after her working hours had been restricted.
Oxford Crown Court docket (pictured) heard when officers arrived on the tackle, the lady advised police that Mugambe wouldn’t let her go away the home till she paid her cash for her journey to the UK
Jurors accepted the prosecution’s case that Mugambe had engaged in ‘unlawful folly’ with Ugandan deputy excessive commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa (pictured), wherein they conspired to rearrange for the younger lady to return to the UK
In keeping with her UN profile web page, Mugambe was appointed to the physique’s judicial roster in Could 2023 – three months after police had been referred to as to her tackle in Oxfordshire.
Ms Haughey stated: ‘Lydia Mugambe has exploited and abused the sufferer – profiting from her lack of knowledge of her rights to correctly paid employment and deceiving her as to the aim of her coming to the UK.
‘On her arrival she was made to work for Ms Mugambe from the very begin, un-remunerated and appearing as ‘maid’ and baby carer to present Ms Mugambe again her ‘life’.
‘Disadvantaged of her freedom to decide on her work, to manage her ID paperwork, she was beholden to Lydia Mugambe.
‘If there was any doubt about this, it may be eliminated by contemplating that the minute the sufferer challenged the defendant’s authority and tried to have management of her personal ID paperwork, she was threatened with being returned to Uganda.
‘A younger lady introduced in for the comfort of Mugambe’s life however mistreated, mistreated by Lydia Mugambe, a lady of energy and intelligence who had no qualms in mendacity not solely to the sufferer however to the police once they sought to make sure the security and wellbeing of the sufferer.’
The sufferer entered the UK on July 9, 2022, the jury was advised. Mugambe requested her in March 2022 if she was concerned about coming to the UK to be her baby minder.
On March 20, 2022, Mugambe attended an occasion within the Ugandan Excessive Fee in London.
There she met the Ugandan Deputy Excessive Commissioner Mugerwa.
The sufferer’s visa sponsorship type confirmed that she was going to work for the ambassador as a personal home servant in a diplomatic family beneath the make use of of Mugerwa – the Ugandan Deputy Excessive Commissioner – in North London, the courtroom heard.
The jury heard that on February 10, 2023, Thames Valley Police obtained a name to an tackle in Oxfordshire having obtained a report from a lady claiming the sufferer was being held as a slave.
Later that day the sufferer was present in a TK Maxx retailer in Oxford with the reporting social gathering believing her to be a sufferer of contemporary slavery, the prosecutor stated.
The jury was advised that there have been false particulars of employment in her visa sponsorship and the alleged sufferer was by no means meant to work on the embassy.
Mugambe handled the alleged sufferer as an ‘unpaid skivvy,’ the prosecutor stated.
Ms Haughey stated: ‘That assembly on the Excessive Fee with the Deputy Excessive Commissioner was the turning level when Lydia Mugambe began an unlawful folly with the Deputy Excessive Commissioner to convey the alleged sufferer into the UK.’
The jury returned three unanimous responsible verdicts concerning conspiring to do an act to facilitate the fee of a breach of UK immigration regulation by a non-UK nationwide, requiring an individual to carry out compelled or obligatory labour and conspiring to intimidate a witness.
A majority responsible verdict was returned concerning a fourth cost of arranging or facilitating journey of one other particular person with a view to exploitation.
John Leonard Mugerwa – who would have had diplomatic immunity – is now again in Uganda.
Mugambe shall be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court docket on Could 2.
