Police in Uganda have announced that an American couple have been charged with “aggravated torture” of a youngster who was in their care and was 10 years old.
According to a statement released by the police on Tuesday, Nicholas Spencer and his wife, Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, both of whom are 32 years old, were charged on Friday and remanded to Luzira Prison, which is a maximum security facility located on the outskirts of Kampala.
They were scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday for a hearing regarding their bail conditions.
According to the authorities, the couple is providing foster care for three Ugandan children, including the victim, who is living with them.
The allegations state that between the years 2020 and 2022, the defendants “constantly abused” the youngster, prompting neighbors to raise the alarm for the child, who was enrolled in a school in Kampala designed specifically for students with special needs.
“What happened to the victim in the last couple of years could probably have been prevented if they had closely monitored the well-being of the foster children,” the police statement said, urging social workers to constantly monitor the wellbeing of vulnerable children and those who were placed in foster homes.
According to the police, the pair traveled to Uganda in 2017 with the intention of volunteering in the town of Jinja for an organization that was based in the United States. After their time there, they relocated to the upscale suburb of Naguru in Kampala in order to work for a start-up company.
The East African nation is grappling with a contentious debate on the practice of international adoption. In the year 2020, the government of the United States of America brought criminal charges and imposed economic sanctions against an adoption ring based in the United States that was responsible for placing Ugandan children who were not orphans with families in the United States.
