His Black Pirates teammates carried his casket to his final resting place in Buweri County. As the sun set over Sironko, the man who delivered the fatal blow was already in custody — and police say the arrests are not done.
Sydney Gongodyo was buried at 5:50 PM on Tuesday at his ancestral home in Buweri County, Sironko District, in a farewell that was equal parts grief, tribute, and unresolved anger at how a 27-year-old Makerere University student and Uganda Cranes rugby international came to need a burial at all.
His Black Pirates Rugby Club teammates carried his casket. They walked their teammate to his final resting place the way rugby players do everything — together, as a unit, shoulder to shoulder.
Family members, friends, sports officials, and hundreds of mourners from across the country were there. The tributes that have been pouring in since June 5 found their fullest expression in Sironko on Tuesday evening — a community and a sport paying final respects to someone they describe consistently in the same terms: talented, disciplined, humble, dedicated, a role model. Sydney Gongodyo did not steal a handbag. CCTV footage reviewed after the incident confirms what his family has maintained from the beginning — that the actual thieves grabbed the bag, jumped on a waiting boda boda, and fled. Sydney was crossing the road at Frobel Stage when the woman raised an alarm. The crowd saw him. They decided he was responsible.
He pleaded his innocence throughout the attack. He was a physically powerful national rugby player who could have run. He did not run because he had done nothing. That decision — to stand and plead rather than flee — is what kept him in place long enough for the crowd to kill him.
He was rushed to Mulago National Referral Hospital. He died at 7:00 PM on June 5, 2026. The case is registered as murder by mob action.
Tributes have continued from rugby clubs, sports leaders, teammates, and fans across Uganda and the region. Every tribute lands on the same notes — hardworking, disciplined, a contributor to Ugandan rugby whose impact extended beyond what he did on the field.
Black Pirates, his club, said it best in their initial statement: “A sea robber to the bone has sailed his sail. No more sea billows for him.”
His mother told mourners at the Kings Park Arena memorial: “I am in the house in Ntinda, and Sydney is dying outside in Ntinda. It pains.”
His father told the same gathering: “The young man was pleading his innocence, according to the CCTV coverage. So these guys bounce on him and literally crush him up. I think his death was very, very painful, extremely very painful.”
