The Buganda Road Court has declined to grant bail to a rattled American Couple who were thrown into the coolers earlier this month for torturing their ten year old foster child.
The accused: Mackenzie Leing Spencer and her husband Nicholas Spencer both 32, all residents of Naguru Hill, Nakawa Division in Kampala were arrested in early December after an anonymous source reported them to police.
Video clips captured from a camera the couple installed in the child’s room revealed how the couple punished the minor for being stubborn.
In some viral videos, the minor is seen sitting on a cold tiled floor naked for long hours, lying on a bed without a mattress while the couple monitors his movements. Sources told police that the child was punished because he is stubborn and mentally derailed.
The ruthless couple was consequently remanded to Luzira by the presiding Grade One Magistrate Sarah Tusiime Bashaija
They again appeared before the same court on Tuesday for the hearing of their bail application. However, the State slapped them with new charges of aggravated trafficking, remanding them further.
The prosecution alleges that the couple between 2020 and 2022 at their residence in Naguru, recruited, transported, maintained, and tortured a vulnerable ten-year-old boy contrary to the provisions of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009.
State Attorney Joan Keko told court that the couple is staying in Uganda illegally since their documents expired. She also stated that they have no known relatives or friends.
“They have no community or family ties in Uganda, and the offence 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,” Keko told the court.
However, the couple’s lawyer Leila Saaliwulide argued that the couple is dealing with ailments that could not be treated in prison. In response, State prosecutor said there was no ailment that could not be treated in prison.
The Chief Magistrate, Sarah Tusiime further remanded the couple to Luzira prison until 18th January 2023.
The accused persons could not plead to the charges because they can only be tried in the International Crimes Division of the High Court.
The fostered children are currently under Police care until another home is found.
Spencer and his wife came to Uganda in 2017 and a year later fostered three children, including the alleged victim, police said.
If found guilty of the offences, the couple could serve a life sentence in prison as prescribed in the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture act 2012.
