A South Carolina couple has been slapped with charges for torturing their 10-year-old foster child from 2020-2022. The accused, Nicholas, and Mackenzie Spencer, both 32, have been charged with aggravated torture.

According to complaints filed by the couple’s caretaker, both Nicholas and Mackenzie adopted three children while working in Uganda in 2017. The couple however subjected the 10-year-old to inhumane conditions masked as punishment.

This includes forcing the child to sleep on a wooden plank as opposed to a mattress, and keeping him locked in a small, cold tiled room at all times.

The child was also prevented from attending school and forced to remain naked in a locked room where he was monitored by a CCTV camera.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the couple was deemed a flight risk by a local prosecutor, however their attorney argued that the couple needed medication they could not access in prison and asked that they be released on bail.

The Magistrate, however, ruled that the couple remain in custody until she gives a ruling for their bail application on December 20.

They are now being held at Luzira Prison, a maximum-security facility.