An American couple are facing the death penalty in Uganda after being accused of child trafficking and torturing one of three Christian ministry foster children in their care.
Nicholas Spencer and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, both 32, have been in custody since December 9 after neighbors in the capital Kampala reported their alleged torture to police.
They moved to the East African nation for humanitarian causes in 2017 and adopted three children from the Welcome Ministry in Jinja City the next year.
This included the alleged victim, a 10-year-old boy who attended a special school and is HIV positive, according to police and local media.
In announcing their first arrest, Ugandan police said the Spencer’s had “continuously tortured” the boy from 2020, “which drew the attention of neighbors,” who captured some of the incidents on video.
The Spencers are accused of torturing the 10-year-old boy, one of three they raised in 2018, a year after they moved to Uganda to do humanitarian work, handout
The couple kept the boy barefoot and “naked all day” and “occasionally made him crouch in an awkward position, with his head on the ground and hands wide open,” police said.
He was also forced to sleep on a wooden platform with no mattress or bedding and was only given cold meals from the fridge, police said.
The force also stressed that the boy “could have endured more severe torture without the camera.”
Luzira Maximum Security Prison is Uganda’s only Maximum Security Prison.Luzira Prisons
A caregiver told police only one child was tortured because foster parents accused him of being stubborn, hyperactive and mentally unstable, according to local newspaper the Daily Monitor.
“I wanted to quit the job, but I knew that if I left without doing anything about it, the torture would continue,” the caretaker reportedly said.
The Spencers were initially charged on December 9 with aggravated torture, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. They have pleaded not guilty to these charges.
The Spencers are also charged with aggravated child trafficking, which carries the death penalty if convicted.Portal
Prosecutors said on Wednesday that they were faced with another charge of serious child trafficking, which carries the death penalty if convicted.
The couple recruited, transported and kept the child by “abusing a vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation,” according to the indictment.
The new charges were read out on Tuesday when the Spencers appeared before a magistrates’ court. However, they were not allowed to file a lawsuit as the more serious charge can only be heard by the High Court.
They were denied bail and taken to Luzira maximum security prison.Portal
The couple, who were taken to Luzira Prison, a maximum-security facility on the outskirts of the capital Kampala, have yet to be scheduled for that hearing before a higher court.
The couple’s lawyer dismissed the case as a “fishing expedition” by the authorities, claiming they had no evidence.
“The last time we were in court, the state said the investigation was closed and today they added a new charge and said the investigation is ongoing,” she told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“It makes no sense.”
The attorney previously requested the Spencer’s release on bail, claiming they had unspecified medical conditions that could not be treated in prison.
The Spencers were denied bail despite saying they had grievances that could not be dealt with in custody. Portal
Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer previously had a GoFundMe for emergency surgery for “joint and spine issues,” which had already required seven spine surgeries.
Their appeal describes how they “relocated to East Africa” to “do humanitarian work focused on women’s empowerment and education” but had to travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina for the operation.
“Because we live overseas, we don’t have health insurance in the US, which means all medical expenses for this surgery have to be paid out of pocket,” she wrote — getting less than $5,000 of her $28,000 goal.
Her request for bail was denied as prosecutors insisted there were no diseases that the Ugandan prison system could not treat.
They were taken to the maximum security prison in Luzira. Luzira Prisons
“They have no community or family ties in Uganda and the offense they are currently charged with is serious and carries a life sentence, so their likelihood of escaping bail is very, very high,” the prosecutor said Joan Keko the court.
The US Embassy in Kampala said it was aware of reports of the arrest and detention of two Americans and was monitoring the situation. It declined to comment Wednesday on the latest charges and the possible death penalty.
With mail wires