According to the state prosecutor, a U.S. couple who were arrested in Uganda on suspicion of torturing a 10-year-old boy severely also face accusations of trafficking in aggravated children, which if found guilty carries the death penalty.
Both 32-year-olds, Nicholas Spencer and Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, have been detained in Uganda since December 9 after being accused of torturing a kid who was residing in their Kampala, Uganda, house under foster care. To that charge, they have entered a not guilty plea.
According to the updated charge sheet obtained by Reuters on Wednesday, the couple has also been accused of "aggravated trafficking in children." They haven't yet pleaded guilty to that.
Unidentified counsel for the couple referred to the investigation as a "fishing expedition" by the authorities and claimed that they lacked any supporting evidence, according to Ugandan newspaper the Monitor. According to a report, she stated that the additional allegation "doesn't make sense."
Reuters made many unsuccessful attempts to contact a lawyer on their behalf through the court and the prosecutor's office.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors claim that the couple used "abuse of position of vulnerability for purposes of exploitation" to find, transport, and keep the child.
The couple had the new charge read to them when they appeared before a magistrate's court on Tuesday, but they were not permitted to enter a plea because the case could only be heard at the High Court, according to Jacquelyne Okui, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office, who told Reuters on Wednesday.
The date on which Spencer and his wife will appear in the High Court to enter a plea to the additional charge has not yet been set, Okui added. Spencer and his wife were further detained.
We will start the procedure of committing them to the High Court, but we are unable to predict when it will be finished and they will be able to appear in court, Okui said.
The maximum sentence on the first charge, which is aggravating child torture, is life in prison.
The U.S. Embassy in Kampala declined to comment on the most recent accusation on Wednesday. It informed Reuters last week that it was aware of stories involving the arrest and imprisonment of two Americans in Kampala and was keeping an eye on the matter, but that owing to privacy concerns, it was unable to make any further comments.
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