Whitey Ford
12-26-2022, 11:47 PM
An American couple moved to Uganda to become foster parents. They now could face death in child torture case
https://i.ibb.co/1JR49HK/please-do-not-feed-the-pigeons-sign-s2-1442.png
In 2017, Nicholas and Mackenzie Spencer, both 32, left behind their lives in Washington DC and moved to Uganda.
Mr Spencer, then a congressional staffer, and his wife, a former healthcare consultant, quit their jobs in America to become foster parents and begin their “humanitarian work” in the East African nation.
Five years later, they would be making international headlines — not for their activism — but for their arrest on charges of aggravated torture and aggravated child trafficking. The couple, now being held at a Ugandan maximum security prison, stands accused of subjecting their 10-year-old foster child to cruel punishments with the excuse that he was “stubborn, hyperactive, and mentally unstable, according to the Uganda Police Force.
Ugandan prosecutors said the Spencers deprived the boy, who is reportedly HIV positive, of clothing, education, warm food and a bed. Authorities added that the foster parents, who first retained custody of the children in the town of Jinja before moving to the capital, kept the boy through “abuse of position of vulnerability for purposes of exploitation,” the Daily Monitor reports.
According to authorities, investigators found that the Spencers kept the boy barefoot and naked throughout the day and “would occasionally make him squat in an awkward position, with his head facing the floor and hands spread out widely.”
The boy was allegedly forced to sleep on a wooden platform, without a mattress, and “was served cold meals from the fridge.”
Filed documents obtained by the Monitor state that a camera was placed inside the room where the boy was kept in order to monitor his movements.
A year after the Spencers moved, they began to foster three children from the Welcome Ministry before moving to Kampala, the capital.
On Wednesday, the Spencers were charged with aggravated child trafficking, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death.
They were not allowed to enter a plea as their case can only be heard at High Court, prosecutors told Reuters.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/an-american-couple-moved-to-uganda-to-become-foster-parents-they-now-could-face-death-in-child-torture-case/ar-AA15zVWP?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=847ccc0f1084460cb9c711639b2bb20f
https://i.ibb.co/1JR49HK/please-do-not-feed-the-pigeons-sign-s2-1442.png
In 2017, Nicholas and Mackenzie Spencer, both 32, left behind their lives in Washington DC and moved to Uganda.
Mr Spencer, then a congressional staffer, and his wife, a former healthcare consultant, quit their jobs in America to become foster parents and begin their “humanitarian work” in the East African nation.
Five years later, they would be making international headlines — not for their activism — but for their arrest on charges of aggravated torture and aggravated child trafficking. The couple, now being held at a Ugandan maximum security prison, stands accused of subjecting their 10-year-old foster child to cruel punishments with the excuse that he was “stubborn, hyperactive, and mentally unstable, according to the Uganda Police Force.
Ugandan prosecutors said the Spencers deprived the boy, who is reportedly HIV positive, of clothing, education, warm food and a bed. Authorities added that the foster parents, who first retained custody of the children in the town of Jinja before moving to the capital, kept the boy through “abuse of position of vulnerability for purposes of exploitation,” the Daily Monitor reports.
According to authorities, investigators found that the Spencers kept the boy barefoot and naked throughout the day and “would occasionally make him squat in an awkward position, with his head facing the floor and hands spread out widely.”
The boy was allegedly forced to sleep on a wooden platform, without a mattress, and “was served cold meals from the fridge.”
Filed documents obtained by the Monitor state that a camera was placed inside the room where the boy was kept in order to monitor his movements.
A year after the Spencers moved, they began to foster three children from the Welcome Ministry before moving to Kampala, the capital.
On Wednesday, the Spencers were charged with aggravated child trafficking, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death.
They were not allowed to enter a plea as their case can only be heard at High Court, prosecutors told Reuters.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/an-american-couple-moved-to-uganda-to-become-foster-parents-they-now-could-face-death-in-child-torture-case/ar-AA15zVWP?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=847ccc0f1084460cb9c711639b2bb20f