What did Mackenzie and Nicholas Spencer do? American couple charged for child torture and trafficking in Uganda

On Monday, a Ugandan court charged Mackenzie and Nicholas Spencer with child trafficking and alleged torture of a 10-year-old boy. If convicted, the American couple might face the death penalty.

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State prosecution presented a charge sheet before the Buganda Road Court, accusing the Spencers of torturing and holding the 10-year-old boy in a small, cold room, without any clothes. They were previously charged with aggravated torture for allegedly keeping the foster child in a room fitted with cameras to monitor his “stubbornness” and “hyperactive behavior.”

Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesman Patrick Onyango also said that the couple will face child trafficking charges because they were allegedly keeping and using the children to solicit money from various donors.

Mackenzie Leing Mathias Spencer and Nicholas Spencer pleaded not guilty to the earlier charge of aggravated torture. The couple, who are presently in police custody, will have a chance to plead to the new charge once the case is moved to a higher court.

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Mackenzie and Nicholas Spencer were denied bail, are being held at Uganda's only high security prison

South Carolina couple, Nicholas Spencer and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, both 32, were arrested on December 9 for allegedly torturing one of the foster children under their care for years. The couple, who moved to the Ugandan capital of Kampala in 2018, fostered three children from a Christian ministry in Jinja City.

According to a statement from the Uganda Police Force, between 2020 and 2022, the couple tortured the 10-year-old, who was later identified as Kayima John. The abuse was noticed by neighbors who reported the Spencers to the police at Kira Road Division.

Detailing the abuse that the 10-year-old faced at his foster home, police said:

"Our team of investigators established, that the couple kept the victim barefoot, and naked throughout the day, would occasionally make him squat in an awkward position, with his head facing the floor and hands spread out widely, he spent his nights on a wooden platform, without a mattress or beddings and was served cold meals from the fridge. We believe, the victim could have endured more severe acts of torture, away from the camera."

A caregiver reportedly told local news outlet the Daily Monitor:

"I wanted to leave the job, but I knew if I left without doing something about it, the torture would continue."

The American couple is being held at Uganda's maximum security facility on the outskirts of Kampala, Luzira Prison. Their plea for bail, based on unspecified ailments that could not be treated in prison, was denied. According to the New York Post, the prosecutors stated that there were no ailments that could not be treated within Uganda’s prison system.

Joan Keko, a prosecutor, told the court:

"They have no community or family ties in Uganda, and the offense with which they are charged currently is of grave nature attracting a penalty of life imprisonment, therefore their likelihood to abscond from bail is really, really high."

Nicholas Spencer reportedly started working at AKOLA Project in 2017, and later joined Motive Creation Agency. It was also reported that neither he nor his wife have work permits.