KAMPALA.
The Court of Appeal has upheld the 12-year and three-month jail sentence given to Godfrey Wamala, alias Troy, who the High Court found guilty of killing renowned Ugandan artiste Moses Ssekibogo, who was popularly known as Mozey Radio.
A panel of three justices comprising Justice Christopher Gashirabake, Justice Asa Mugenyi, and Justice John Mike Musisi, dismissed Wamala’s appeal in its entirety, ruling that the trial court had rightly convicted him of manslaughter based on sufficient and credible evidence.
Wamala had asked the Court of Appeal to upturn both the conviction and sentence, citing contradictions in the prosecution’s case and arguing that the original 14-year sentence later reduced to 12 years, three months, and four days due to time spent on remand was excessively harsh.
Radio, a founding member of the Goodlyfe Crew, suffered fatal head injuries after being violently slammed to the ground by Wamala during a bar brawl at De Bar in Entebbe on January 22, 2018. He succumbed to the injuries days later at Case Clinic in Kampala.
In their judgment, the juries found that two key eyewitnesses, Pamela Musimire (PW2) and David Otim a.k.a. Washington (PW1), had clearly and consistently identified Wamala as the killer .
“The appellant was properly identified by PW1 as being the one who assaulted the deceased,” the justices ruled. “We respectfully disagree with the assessors. We find that this ingredient causation of death has been proved beyond reasonable doubt.”
The adjudicators also dismissed Wamala’s claim that lighting conditions inside the bar were too poor to allow proper identification.
“Contradictions as to whether the source of light was a bulb or a fluorescent tube are immaterial… all witnesses agreed there was ample lighting,” the ruling stated.
The court further noted that Wamala had admitted being present at the scene and that his flight from the scene abandoning his belongings and going into hiding was behavior consistent with guilt.
“His sudden disappearance from the area is incompatible with innocent conduct,” the judges observed.
Wamala’s lawyer had also argued for a more lenient sentence, proposing a five-year term and citing precedents such as Uganda v Kamyuka Ivan and Elungat Grace Naptal v Uganda. But the trio juries ruled that the gravity of the injuries and the circumstances of the assault warranted a tougher sentence.
“The degree of injury inflicted, especially to the head, and the fact that the deceased was thrown onto a concrete floor causing severe internal damage, justified a heavier sentence,” the ruling read. “The sentence of 12 years, three months and four days is not manifestly harsh or excessive. It aligns with sentencing in similar cases.”