How Could You? Hall of Shame-Uganda-Mackenzie Leing Mathias and Nicholas Spencer UPDATED
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Naguru, Uganda, foster parents Mackenzie Leing Mathias and Nicholas Spencer, both 32, “have been remanded to Luzira prison after being charged before court with allegedly torturing a 10-year-old, who is also HIV positive.”
They “are accused of administering harsh punishments to the child, depriving him of the right to education and keeping him locked in a small room that served as his bedroom.
“According to the charge sheet presented to Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court last Friday, the duo is facing aggravated torture charges contrary to the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act 2012.
“Mackenzie Leing Mathias Spencer and Nicholas Spencer between 2020 and December 2022 at Naguru in the Kampala District committed an act of torture against [name withheld] aged 10 years old,” the charge sheet presented before the court by the prosecution reads in part.
Presiding Grade One Magistrate Sarah Tusiime Bashaija remanded the couple to prison until Wednesday when they will be returned to court for a bail application.
In an interview with the caregiver of the boy in question, who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity, she said she reported the case to the police after she noticed the deteriorating condition of the boy.
“I wanted to leave the job, but I knew if I left without doing something about it, the torture would continue,” she said.
The caregiver said the couple was fostering three children, but only tortured one whom they said was stubborn and hyperactive, accused him of being mentally unstable and, therefore, administered punishments and torture as a way of getting him in line.
According to the statement that the caregiver recorded at Kira Police Station, the 10-year-old boy was subjected to sitting in a small room on a cold tiled floor without clothes on, sleeping on a bed without a mattress, and having a camera installed in his room to monitor all his movements.
Daily Monitor also learnt that he was reportedly stopped from going to school four months ago.
Ms Christine Tumuhairwe, a lawyer who was working with the caregiver to collect evidence against the couple, told this publication that the boy’s punishments were administered following a list of ‘wrongdoings’. He said the evidence was handed over to police.
If convicted, the couple could serve a life sentence in prison as prescribed in the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture act 2012. All three children are now in the custody of the police in a temporary foster home as they await placement into another foster home .”
US couple remanded to Luzira prison over torturing 10-year-old boy
[Monitor 12/12/22 by Precious Delilah]
“When police raided the house, they found CCTV evidence showing that the child was forced to squat in an “awkward position”, served only cold food and made to sleep on a “wooden platform, without a mattress or bedding,” the statement said.”
Uganda charges US couple over torture of foster son
[The Citizen 12/13/22 by AFP]
“It was however, realised that between the year, 2020 and December 2022, the couple constantly tortured, a one Kayima John, a 10-year-old pupil of Dawn Children’s Center in Ntinda, which attracted the attention of neighbours. They alerted the police at Kira Road Division and investigations commenced. 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.
We want to thank the neighbours, teachers and the victim, for taking the courage to stand-up against acts of child torture. We also call upon al probation offices and social workers, to continuously monitor the well-being of children in foster homes, to guard against handing over vulnerable children to abusive foster parents, or other forms of harm. For instance, what happened to the victim, in the last couple of years, probably could have been prevented, if they had closely monitored the well-being of the foster children.[No shit! 
]
The suspects came to Uganda in 2017, where Nicholas started working with AKOLA Project based in Jinja. In 2018, they fostered 3 children including the victim from Welcome Ministry – Jinja. They moved to Kampala when they joined Motive Creation Agency, with their 3 children.”
AMERICAN FOSTER PARENTS CHARGED WITH AGGRAVATED TORTURE OF 10-YEAR-OLD SON
[Uganda Police Force 12/13/22 by Wilfred Kamusiime]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“A US couple is facing the death penalty in Uganda after they were hit with an aggravated child trafficking charge – on top of a child torture charge they are already battling.”
“Prosecutors accuse them of having recruited, transported and kept the 10-year-old child for ‘purposes of exploitation,’ according to the charge sheet.”
“In an interview with the newspaper, a woman who said she was the boy’s caretaker spoke anonymously about what she saw and also alleged he had a camera in his room watching his every move.
The caretaker said: ‘I wanted to leave the job, but I knew if I left without doing something about it, the torture would continue.’
She added that the couple only abused one of their three foster children because they claimed the 10-year-old boy was stubborn, hyperactive and mentally unstable, and they used the punishments to keep him in line. ”
US couple face the death penalty in Uganda as they are hit with new child trafficking charge: Aid workers ‘tortured their HIV+ foster son, 10, by keeping him naked and feeding him only cold food’
{Daily Mail 12/22/22 by NEIRIN GRAY DESAI]
Update 2:“A South Carolina couple living in Uganda who’d been accused of torturing their foster son over the course of two years will not return to jail after pleading guilty to a lesser charge, according to multiple news outlets.
Nicholas and Mackenzie Spencer pleaded guilty Tuesday to lesser charges and were ordered to pay up to $28,000 to the 10-year-old boy, one of three children they took in from a Christian ministry in Kampala five years ago, according to a court filing cited by Reuters, BBC News, and Voice of America. 
The married couple, both in their early 30s, were arrested in December 2022 and charged with aggravated torture, PEOPLE previously reported, citing Ugandan police.
The Spencers have lived and worked in the area of the Ugandan capital since 2017 after moving there to do humanitarian work.
In 2018, they took three foster children into their home in Naguru, a Kampala suburb, and allegedly kept their 10-year-old foster son “barefoot and naked throughout the day,” according to an Ugandan police statement.
Police said the Spencers would sometimes allegedly force the boy to “squat in an awkward position.” and made him sleep on a bare wooden platform without a mattress or bedding. The torture allegedly occurred between 2020 and 2022, per the statement.
A caretaker for the child reported the alleged torture to police last December and told local paper The Daily Monitor at the time that the Spencers allegedly kept the child confined to a small tiled room. She also alleged the couple kept him home from school and had a camera monitoring him at all times.
The Spencers, who were later also charged with aggravated child trafficking, have been out on bail since March after pleading guilty to the offense, according to VOA.
They received a two-month prison sentence, which they had served following their arrest, BBC News reports.
A judge on Tuesday found the couple guilty of six lesser charges, including inflicting cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, child neglect, and unlawful stay in Uganda and employment without a work permit, VOA reports. The couple were ordered to pay 100 million Ugandan shillings or up to $28,000 in compensation to the boy.
The VOA reports the Spencers will face jail time if they cannot pay the fines. The boy has reportedly since been placed in a children’s home.
David Mpanga, the couple’s lawyer, told Reuters the boy had psychiatric problems and that the Spencers were unable to properly care for him because they had no parenting experience.”
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