Parents distressed as 12-year-old boy goes missing

At 12:11am on April 23, 2026, Patrick Katungi, the father of 12-year-old Victor Katungi, received an unusual call from Benard Mangeni, the Primary Six class teacher at St Savio Junior School, Kisubi. His son, a boarding pupil in Primary Six, was missing.

After receiving the news, Patrick drove to the school and arrived at approximately 1:00am. He met Mangeni, who led him to the matron and the school’s head of security. The quartet searched the classroom and school compound but Victor couldn't be found. They woke up one of Victor’s friends who sleeps in a different dormitory. He confessed to having last seen Victor during supper on April 23, 2026.

“When we woke up other children who share the dormitory with Victor, they all admitted he was in class during evening preps. When his class teacher sent Victor for his science paper, he didn't come back,” a broken Patrick says.

After a long night search, at approximately 3:30am, Patrick left the school, went home and returned with his cousin sister, Martha Mboneka, on April 24, 2026, at 6:00am to meet the same team he had met overnight. Upon reaching the school, Patrick and his cousin were told the headteacher, who had been informed about a missing pupil, would come to school at 9:00am to explain why Victor was missing. When the headteacher didn’t show up, Patrick, Mboneka and the school security team went to Victor’s class but got the same information they had got overnight. They then went to Kisubi Police Station to report a case of a missing child.

“What I didn’t understand was that at the time Victor was sent to the dormitory for his science paper, dormitories were not open. Where did the teacher expect him to pick the papers from?” Mboneka wonders.

When Mboneka and Patrick reached police, the class teacher and head of security had already reached the station. The quartet were given the same case reference number and an officer from the police’s Criminal Investigations Department to analyse camera footage.

From the police station, the quartet went back to school to view footage from the school security cameras. The footage revealed a scuffle between Victor and his class teacher at 8:15pm on April 23, 2026, that could have raised Victor’s fear not to go back to class after being sent for the science paper. Victor is last seen on camera footage wearing a red uniform, disappearing behind the classroom at approximately 9:00pm. The footage also captured Victor, the only missing pupil in the school, jumping over the school fence into a neighbouring plantation at approximately 9:14pm on April 23, 2026.

When contacted on phone, Mr. Mangeni, Victor’s class teacher, said the school has involved different security organs that were kept a secret from Patrick. He said the school is working tirelessly to find Victor.

“If I am to reveal who we are working with, I need to ask for consent from the concerned people we asked to help us search for the boy. I don’t need to reveal to everybody yet they are in the pipeline. The father told us that Victor used to transport himself from Fort Portal to Kampala. I talked to the boy’s friends who said Victor had approximately Shs150,000 he could have been given by the parents and we weren’t aware. The money could have enabled him to make some journeys,” Mangeni said.

When pressed for a comment about Victor having Shs150,000, Victor’s father, Patrick, refuted Mangeni’s claims, sharing that he last gave his son Shs50,000 two weeks ago as Victor and his classmates prepared for a class trip.

“The class teacher disturbed my son. When you look at the footage, my son could have had mistakes with the science paper but the teacher lacked professionalism in handling the matter. Camera footage reveals the teacher attempted to pull the boy’s file from him and the situation attracted attention of other teachers and pupils. When he excused himself to go and pick the paper, he was overwhelmed by the scuffle and didn’t return to class,” Patrick says.

Patrick, however, wonders why it took the school long to call him yet evening preps end at 9:00pm and he was only informed three hours and 11 minutes later about his missing son. Numerous searches by the parents around the school neighbourhood, including the Link Bus terminal where Mboneka says Victor is sometimes taken to board a bus for holidays to Fort Portal where his mother comes from, haven’t yielded any fruits to date.

Patrick appeals to anyone who could find Victor or know of his whereabouts to call him on 0787860801 or the class teacher on 0784799492.