The funeral of Uganda Cranes rugby player Sydney Gongodyo on Sunday was filled with grief and anguish, as both his mother and father delivered deeply emotional tributes that left mourners struggling to hold back tears following his death in an alleged mob attack in Ntinda, Kampala.
The most painful moments came when Sydney’s mother stepped forward to speak about the final hours before her son was killed.
She said they expected Sydney to pick up his younger sister, Precious, with plans to drop her at Nabisunsa Girls School. When she failed to reach him later in the day, she assumed he had gone for academic work at Makerere University.
“He was coming to pick Precious to drop Precious at Nabisunsa. I called Sydney because I thought he had gone for a paper in Makerere in the morning… By 3pm, Sydney’s phones were off,” she said, pausing repeatedly as she broke down.
What followed was a painful waiting period that turned into devastating reality. She said she was at home in Ntinda, not knowing her son was just nearby, being attacked by a mob.
“Can you imagine I am in the house in Ntinda, and Sydney is dying outside in Ntinda. It pains,” she said, before collapsing into tears as relatives rushed to support her.
In her tribute, she also spoke about Sydney’s character, describing him as a loving and respectful son who brought unity within the extended family.
“Sydney was a very good man. All these people, his uncles and aunties, they became his brothers and sisters,” she said softly.
Later during a memorial service at Kings Park Arena, Sydney’s father gave a detailed and emotional account of what police CCTV footage reportedly showed about the moments leading to his son’s death.
Speaking before teammates, coaches, rugby officials and family members, he said the footage indicated Sydney was not involved in the robbery that triggered the attack, but was instead an innocent passerby caught in a tragic misunderstanding near Frobel Stage in Bukoto.
According to him, the CCTV shows a woman being robbed of her handbag by two men who fled on a boda boda. Moments later, Sydney crossed the road and unknowingly arrived at the same scene as the alarm was being raised.
“The young man was in a wrong place at a wrong time,” he said.
He explained that in the confusion that followed, members of the public mistakenly identified Sydney as one of the suspects and turned on him.
“Sydney, who was innocent, was attacked unnecessarily,” he said, adding that the footage showed him pleading for his life and trying to explain himself as the mob closed in.
The father described how the situation quickly turned violent, with Sydney beaten repeatedly despite not resisting.
“Given the discipline that you get from sports, because he was a massive guy, he could have sprinted off if he had done something… but the young man was pleading his innocence,” he said.
He added that the assault continued even after Sydney collapsed, describing the injuries as severe and the death as extremely painful.
Police have since launched investigations into the incident, with several suspects reportedly arrested as the country continues to grapple with the shock of the killing.
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