Nearly one year after Nicholas and Mackenzie Spencer were arrested for torturing their foster child, there’s been an update in their case. And not a good one…
Last December, the US natives were arrested in Uganda and charged with aggravated torture and later aggravated child trafficking after neighbors and a caretaker grew worried over the well being of a 10-year-old in their care.
If you don’t remember, the American couple, who moved to the East African country in 2017 to do “humanitarian work,” fostered three children in 2018 — and zeroed in on one of the children in particular. According to Ugandan police, they forced the child to remain “barefoot and naked throughout the day.” Local newspaper The Daily Monitor reported that they kept him confined to a small, tiled room and made him sleep on a wooden plank. They also kept him from school and had a camera watching him at all times.
Evil stuff…
Related: Woman Allegedly Poisoned BF Over $30 Million Inheritance — But There’s A Twist!
After pleading not guilty, they were potentially facing the death penalty. However, per Voice of America, they’ve been out of prison on bail since March, and in that time came to realize they were better off throwing themselves on the mercy of the court. On Tuesday the couple reversed course officially, pleading guilty to six lesser crimes. Those charges include inflicting cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, child neglect, unlawful stay in Uganda, and employment without a work permit, according to VOA. For these crimes, the couple were ordered to pay the victimized child $100 million Ugandan shillings, which equates to…
…about $28,000 USD.
WTF! That’s it?!
Their lawyer David Mpanga claims the boy, who is now in a children’s home, suffers from psychiatric problems. He says the foster parents, who had no previous parenting experience, were simply ill-equipped to care for him. Wow. $28k. And that’s it. Obviously if they can’t pay the fines, back to prison they’ll go, but something tells us they’ll come up with the money.
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know down in the comments.
[Image via africanews/YouTube]
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