American couple escape death penalty after pleading guilty to maltreating Ugandan boy
The couple also pleaded guilty to staying illegally in Uganda and working without permits
Nicholas Spencer and his wife, Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer [Alamy/Daily Mirror]
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Nicholas Spencer and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, both in their early 30s and from South Carolina, were detained in December last year and initially charged with the graver offences against a 10-year-old boy they had fostered and were living with in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.
The charge of aggravated child trafficking carries the death penalty in Uganda while aggravated child torture draws a maximum sentence of life in prison. Both defendants denied those charges.
High Court judge, Alice Kyomuhangi, said on Tuesday that as a result of a plea bargain with prosecutors, the defendants – who have lived in Uganda since 2017 and had been free on bail since March – agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges.
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Mackenzie pleaded guilty to inflicting cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment for which she was sentenced to a fine of 3.36 million shillings or two years in prison. Nicholas admitted one count of child neglect for which he was fined 1.5 million shillings or six months in jail.
David Mpanga, counsel for the couple, told Reuters they had opted to pay fines for both those charges.
The couple also pleaded guilty to staying illegally in the East African country and working without permits. For this, they were sentenced to two months in prison, but these were deducted from the time they served while on remand. Both were also ordered to compensate the child with 50 million shillings each.
"The child was in need of help and support, having lost his father and having been abandoned by his own mother. Unfortunately, the accused persons failed to manage his peculiar behaviours," Kyomuhangi said while delivering her ruling.
Mpanga told Reuters the boy had psychiatric problems, including aggressive and anti-social behaviour, and that the couple was trying to manage a difficult child but because they had no experience in parenting, "they perhaps went too far."
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