US couple faces death penalty in Uganda for child trafficking over abuse of boy, 10

KAMPALA, UGANDA: A US couple has been detained in Uganda on charges of brutally abusing a 10-year-old boy. They are also accused of aggravated child trafficking, a crime that carries the death penalty if proven guilty. Both 32-year-olds, Nicholas Spencer and Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer have been detained in Uganda since December 9, Friday, after being accused of torturing a child who was residing in their Kampala, Uganda, house under foster care.

The youngster was allegedly forced to spend days in his underwear and without shoes, and the pair frequently made him squat with his hands spread wide and his head facing the floor, and he was only given cold food from the fridge. The couple is being detained at Luzira Maximum Security Prison, the only maximum security facility in the nation that also houses convicts on death row.

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According to authorities, the pair traveled to Uganda in 2017 to volunteer at a US-based non-profit in the town of Jinja before relocating to Naguru, a posh Kampala suburb, to work at a start-up. The 10-year-old youngster was allegedly recruited, transported, and detained by the defendants for “purposes of exploitation,” according to the charge sheet.

An unidentified counsel representing the couple was described by the Ugandan daily The Monitor as characterizing the investigation as a “fishing expedition” by the authorities because they had no supporting documentation. She was quoted as adding that the additional charges of child trafficking “doesn't make sense.”

In a newspaper interview, a woman claiming to be the youngster's caretaker described what she witnessed and claimed the boy had a camera in his room that was recording everything he did. The caretaker said, “I wanted to leave the job, but I knew if I left without doing something about it, the torture would continue.” She stated that the couple only mistreated one of their three foster kids because they believed the 10-year-old boy was difficult, hyperactive, and mentally unstable, so they employed punishments to keep him in line.

When they appeared in a magistrate's court on December 20, Tuesday, the most recent charge was read to them, but they were not permitted to enter a plea because the case can only be considered in the High Court. On Wednesday, the public prosecutor's office spokeswoman, Jacquelyne Okui, said, “We will begin the process of committing them to the High Court but we can't say when that will be finalized so they can be produced in court.”