After almost 10 days of searching, 12-year-old Victor Katungi, a Primary Six pupil at St Savio Junior School in Kisubi, who went missing from the school on the night of April 23, has been found safe and sound.
The news was shared by lawyer and human rights activist Agather Atuhaire on her X page on Friday.
“Victor has been found what a relief! Thank you all for your prayers and support to his family. He looks injured but I haven’t got all the details. I just thought I should share this amazing news in the meantime” she posted.
Katungi has since been reunited with his family, however details of how he was located are still scanty, although reliable sources say he was found in Fort Portal, where his mother is said to come from.
On Monday this week, the Entebbe Division Police Commander, Moses Musinguzi Karakire, led a team of detectives to inspect the surveillance systems at the school, as part of the investigations into how the pupil disappeared from the school.
What happened on the fateful night he left the school?
According to reliable sources, Katungi escaped from the school following a scuffle with his science teacher, one Benard Mangeni, who also doubles as the P.6 class teacher.
Following reports of the child going missing on Thursday night, his father Patrick Karungi went to the school, the same night and a search was conducted around the school premises, which proved fruitless.
The following day, he returned to the school with a relative and together went to Kisubi Police station to file a missing child report after the school head teacher failed to appear on Friday to explain to them, how the boy went missing.
At Kisubi Police station, they recorded a statement under reference number 12/24/04/2026 and were accorded a CID officer, who escorted them to the school to view footage from the school security cameras.
According to the source, the footage showed a scuffle between Katungi and his class teacher Mangeni at 8:15pm, which could have scared him from returning to the classroom, when he was asked to pick his past science examination paper.
Victor is last seen on camera footage wearing a red uniform and disappearing behind the classroom at approximately 9:00pm.
The footage also captured Katungi, jumping over the school fence into a neighbouring plantation at approximately 9:14pm, Thursday night.
By the time of this publication, the police was yet to issue a statement on how Katungi was found.
