What started as a casual night out turned into sheer horror in Sembabule, as a 6-month-old baby boy was found dead on the roadside, sparking a manhunt for two men and raising questions about a mother’s choices.
The shocking incident happened at the local trading hub of Ntete where Dalia Nansubuga, a young mother, reportedly left her baby boy in the care of a man identified as Ttongire, before heading off to party at a nightclub on Saturday evening.
Eyewitnesses say Dalia dropped off the child around 6 PM, promising to return shortly. But when the clock ticked past midnight and there was no sign of her, Ttongire allegedly handed over the baby to another man, Yovaani Katongole, aged 25, and vanished into the night.
According to area residents, Katongole then took the child to his own house, presumably because the child’s mother was nowhere to be seen.
But that act of supposed care would end in catastrophe.
At dawn, the partying mother, Dalia, finally returned home, only to be greeted with alarming news: her baby had been taken away by another man. Alarmed, she rushed to Katongole’s place, only to find a lifeless baby’s body dumped along the road.
As screams echoed through Ntete Trading Centre, Katongole was seen fleeing the scene, disappearing before Dalia could confront him or the police could arrive.
The bizarre and tragic episode has stunned locals. Emmanuel Kasekende, a respected elder, told reporters that both Ttongire, 35, a resident of Ntete West, and Katongole have disappeared without a trace.
“The whole village is in shock,” Kasekende said. “How can a young mother go out to party and leave her baby behind with men who aren’t even family?”
The Sembabule District Police are now hunting both men as suspects in connection with the child’s death. The motive remains unclear, but investigators are treating the case as suspicious and possibly criminal.
