American couple opts to plead guilty to torturing 10-year-old Ugandan boy 

The High court has ordered the office of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) to produce a 10-year-old child who was allegedly tortured by an American couple.

Lady Justice Alice Komuhangi Khaukha on Monday issued the order, saying court wants to make an assessment of the child and ascertain the condition he is in before going ahead to endorse a plea bargain agreement signed by the suspects Mackenzie Leigh Mathis Spencer and Nicholas Spencer and the office of the DPP. 

The couple on Monday submitted before the court an agreement in which they agreed that they plead guilty to an amended charge sheet of cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment and the husband’s child neglect. However, the judge couldn’t endorse it in the absence of the child who was taken to a foster home by police in the course of investigations.

She directed that the prosecution which was being represented by state attorney Lillian Omar make sure that the child is brought to court today Tuesday. The suspects’ lawyer David Mpanga had no objection to the submissions by the prosecutor. He told the court that he had ably explained to his clients what it means to waive their rights enshrined in the constitution by opting for a plea bargain. 

Prior to the tendering of the agreement, the prosecutor first presented before the court a letter withdrawing the initial charges of torture and child trafficking following a plea-bargain agreement in which they have now agreed to plead guilty to charges of child neglect and cruel inhuman, and degrading treatment.

The couple however did not take a plea on Monday for fear of being jailed before the process ends. Through their lawyer, they asked the court to adjourn the case to Tuesday for them to plead to the charges, a request that has been granted. The child was allegedly locked in an empty room, without clothes, food, or water, and a medical report showed beating marks on his body.

The couple allegedly constantly tortured the foster child between 2020 and 2022, which attracted the attention of neighbours in Naguru who notified Kampala Metropolitan Police.

Police indicated that the Spencers had been informed that the child victim who is alleged to be HIV positive was too stubborn and they also put cameras in the tiled cold room where they monitored him. Further, they had also reportedly stopped him from further studies. 

The police in 2022 said the couple who were originally from South Carolina, moved to Uganda in 2017 as volunteers and since then remained in Uganda without a visa. It is also alleged that the couple fostered three children in 2018, including the one they were alleged to have tortured, from an organization called Welcome Ministry, in Jinja City.  

According to police, the couple then joined a private company and moved to Upper Naguru, a neighbourhood in Kampala.