Guilty Verdict In Dube Killing

Three men accused in the 2007 murder of international reggae star Lucky Dube in a suburb of Johannesburg have been found guilty in a South African court.

Hours before the verdict in Johannesburg High Court March 31, two of the defendants tried to escape while guards were transferring them from a truck to the basement of the courtroom, according to local news reports. They arrived in court with bandaged heads.

The three men, S’fiso Mhlanga, Mbuti Mabe and Julius Gxowa, were expected to be sentenced April 2.

Following the verdict, Dube’s son Thokozani, who witnessed the killing, said that “what happened to uBaba [Dube] was really traumatic to all of us, but we are happy that his killers have been found guilty,” according to BBC News. “We know they are being brought to book and can now have closure.”

Dube was murdered in October 2007 in front of his two children soon after he dropped them off at their uncle’s home in the southern Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville.

The shooting, in an apparent car-jacking attempt, brought international attention to the country’s ever-worsening crime rate, which the former Thabo Mbeki-led government often denied.

Lucky Dube was South Africa’s biggest reggae artist, recording 22 albums during his 25-year career.