US couple’s Uganda child-torture trial can go ahead

A magistrate in Uganda says there is enough evidence for the trial of a US couple charged with the torture and trafficking of a 10-year-old boy in their care to begin soon.

Mackenzie and Nicholas Spencer, who was arrested in December, also face charges linked to being in Uganda unlawfully and without work permits.

The couple will only be allowed to plead when the case opens before the international crimes division of the High Court in the capital, Kampala.

A bail hearing will be held next Wednesday. The pair have been held in remand at the maximum security Luzira prison for the last three months.

Papers presented on Thursday at Kampala’s Buganda Road Court say that during the trial, the Director of Public Prosecution intends to present video evidence taken by a housemaid who worked at the couple’s home in Kampala between December 2020 and 2021.

It allegedly shows that the minor under their care was isolated in a cold, tiled room, made to sit in one position naked, fed on frozen food and put under 24-hour surveillance.

The couple came to Uganda in 2017 to adopt children.