A court in the Ugandan capital of Kampala has granted bail to Nicholas Spencer and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer. The American couple has been detained since December of last year on charges of aggravated torture and aggravated child trafficking of a 10-year-old boy they had fostered and were living in Kampala.
The Spencers, both 32 and from South Carolina, have also been charged with overstaying their visa and working without a permit. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The offence of aggravated torture of a child in Uganda carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The couple has been accused of having recruited, transported, and kept the child through “abuse of position of vulnerability for purposes of exploitation,” according to the charge sheet.
In their bail application, the Spencers argued that they had medical conditions that could not be adequately treated while in jail. The court’s judge, Isaac Muwata, agreed, stating that their conditions could not be reasonably treated while in prison.
The judge ordered the couple to pay cash bail of 50 million Ugandan shillings (approximately $13,000) each and prohibited them from leaving the country.
The date of their trial has not yet been set.
