U.S. couple accused of Child Torture to Appear in Court Today, for Bail Hearing.

U.S. couple accused of Child Torture to Appear in Court Today, for Bail Hearing.

The High Court in Kampala is today expected to hear an application filed by an American couple seeking to be released on bail while their case is investigated and heard. The two are charged with torturing the ten-year-old foster child they were raising.

The couple claims to be law-abiding Americans of high moral character who, up until their arrest, resided at Apartment 304 Plot 29 Ntinda View Crescent in the Kampala neighborhood.

The couple also stated that the charges against them are still subject to the presumption of innocence and that they have serious pre-existing medical conditions that need to be managed outside of a prison's walls and do not pose a threat to any ongoing investigations.

“That at the age of 16, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, an inherited disorder that affects connective tissues in the body especially joints, skin and blood vessel walls,” Mackenzie’s affidavit reads in part.

Adding that owing to this disease, she does not and cannot have biological children of her own. “The nature of the disease is such that having biological children is overly risky to the mother owing to the high possibility of rupture of blood vessels and organs such as the uterus and intestines.”

According to the prosecution, the young couple kidnapped, abused, and kept a helpless ten-year-old boy at their home in Naguru between 2020 and 2022.

The couple is accused of punishing the youngster severely, depriving him of his right to an education, and keeping him locked up in a small space that served as both his bedroom and a punishment room.

The child's caregiver reported them to Kira Road Police Station, stating that the kid used to sleep on a bed without a mattress and sit on a chilly tile floor without clothes, and that a camera was set up in his room to record everything he did.

Police were given proof that the pair fosters two other children as well, but only one of them is subjected to torture because they believe he is mentally unstable, hyperactive, and stubborn. As a result, they punish him severely in order to get him to behave.