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.
