How CID recovered 14-year-old girl after five-year search effort

The Criminal Investigations Directorate in Kampala has recovered a 14-year-old girl who went missing from her father five years ago over unclear circumstances.

Police Spokesperson SCP Fred Enanga identified the victim as Bethany Nimurungi disappeared at the age of nine in April 2018 when she was reportedly picked up from Asili Memorial Nursery and Primary School in Kabale District by her mother identified as Kilande Mercy.

Mercy, according to Enanga had separated from the victim’s father and husband, Tadeo Ruzindantaro and relocated to South Africa for work.

“The facts gathered indicate that in April 2018, the girl victim, Nimurungi Bethany, aged 9, was picked from Asili Memorial Nursery and Primary School in primary 4, in Kabale district, by her biological mother, Kilande Mercy, who separated from her husband, Ruzindantaro Tadeo and thereafter went to South Africa,” Mr Enanga told journalists during Monday’s security briefing at police headquarters in Kampala.

According to Enanga, when the mother returned to South Africa, she left the victim hidden with a relative at an unknown place after picking her up from the boarding school without the knowledge and consent of her father.

“We established that the mother returned to South Africa but without the victim. She left the victim hidden with a relative at an unknown place but a serious search for the girl yielded results almost 5 years later,” the police spokesperson said, adding that the victim was successfully traced on September 22, at the home of one Phiona Rukundo in Manyangwa village, Gayaza in Wakiso district

“A serious search for the girl victim, yielded results, after almost 5 years, when the victim was traced and recovered on 22.09.2023, at the home of her best friend Rukundo Phionah, in Manyangwa village in Gayaza-Wakiso district,” he said.

Police said the victim, who has been staying without her parents for the last 5 years, is now being kept in a shelter home, while a statement was recorded from the caretaker who was found with the child.

“..efforts are in place to record a statement from the mother of the victim, who is still in South Africa, and that of the disgruntled father, who has been searching for her missing daughter for the last 5 years,” Enanga remarked.

DailyExpress has learnt that both parents had no custody order or parenting arrangement after their separation, and the case file has now been opened which after investigations and processing will be forwarded to the DPP, for legal guidance, based on the specific circumstances of the case.