Over a year after the death of popular Ugandan musician Radio who was part of the duo Radio & Weasel, justice has been served.
A Ugandan court on Thursday (31.10.19) sentenced the man who killed famed musician Moses Sekibogo aka Mowzey Radio to 14 years in prison.
Godfrey Wamala aka Troy was charged with murder but was later found guilty of manslaughter by Entebbe court Judge Jane Abodo in a case which lasted 16 months.
Abodo also ruled that Wamala, a night club bouncer, did not have malice or intention to kill the Neera hitmaker despite the fact that the renowned artiste succumbed to injuries sustained during a brawl at a night club.
Murder is defined in legal terms as the unlawful and premeditated killing of a human being by another, while manslaughter is the crime of killing a human being without prior planning.
In her judgment, Abodo ruled that Wamala had done a ‘terrible’ thing in killing Radio.
“I have considered the fact that the convict is a first offender, a relatively young man capable of reforming, but let temper get a better part of him and ended the life of a talented and youthful musician which was a horrible thing. I, therefore, sentence the convict to a term of 13 years, three months and four days,” the judge ruled.
The judge had sentenced him to 14 years but deducted the one year and eight months period he has spent on remand since his arrest earlier in 2018.
Wamala denied murdering Radio but a witness namely David Washington told the court he saw him physically harm the deceased in a brawl at a De Bar, a night club along the Kampala-Entebbe highway.
“(Inside the bar) Radio met like five people whom I had never met before. I started seeing Radio’s friends laughing at him. He (Radio) got angry and poured alcohol on the (club manager) Egesa. Egesa got angry and smashed the bottles on the table,” Washington testified.
“It was then that Egesa called bouncers to take Radio out and indeed they took him out. But on the way, Troy grabbed Mowzey and threw him down and he hit the head on the ground.”
Radio, renowned for his songs such as ‘Bread and Butter’, ‘Potential’ and ‘Kuku’, had three children he sired from two baby mamas.
