From Uganda Police website
The territorial police in Kampala Metropolitan on December 9, 2022, arrested and charged two foster parents of American origin, to Buganda Road Court, with the Aggravated torture of their 10-year-old son, and they were remanded till December 14, 2022.
The facts gathered indicate that the suspects, Nicholas Spencer (aged 32) and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer -a 32-year-old, volunteer, came to Uganda in 2017 when Nicholas started working with AKOLA Project based in Jinja.
In 2018, they fostered 3 children including the victim from Welcome Ministry – Jinja but later moved to Kampala when they joined Motive Creation Agency, with their 3 children.
It was however, realized that between the year, 2020 and December 2022, the couple constantly tortured, Kayima John, a 10-year-old pupil of Dawn Children’s Center in Ntinda, which attracted the attention of neighbors who alerted the police at Kira Road Division and investigations commenced.
The suspects came to Uganda in 2017, and started working with Akola Project, based in Jinja. The couple joined Motive Creation Agency, and moved with their children to Upper Naguru, where they have been staying together.
A team of police 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.
According to the police spokesperson Fred Enanga, believe, the victim could have endured more severe acts of torture, away from the camera.
He also called upon all 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.
