Family pay emotional tribute to murdered Northampton 23-year-old who was 'the light in every room' as killer sentenced
A family has paid an emotional tribute to a murdered Northampton 23-year-old, who was “the light in every room”.
Clinton Obeng Oppong Antwi was stabbed twice in the back, yards away from his house in Flaxwell Court on December 11, last year.
On Friday June 13, his killer Junior Emmanuel Uwadia, aged 25, of Northfield Way, was found guilty of murder, after a three-week trial. He was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday June 18.
In their victim impact statement to the court, Clinton’s parents, younger brothers, and sister, said that “this was not just a testimony. It was a cry from a family that has been torn apart by the murder of their beloved Clinton”.
Through the statement, written on behalf of the family by Clinton’s younger brother Rexford, they said it was nearly impossible to say how much they will miss him as they were “left with broken hearts and trembling voices”.
The statement, which was read out at the sentencing hearing at Northampton Crown Court, continued: “Clinton wasn’t just my big brother. He was the light in every room, the calm in every storm, and the kind of man who made you feel like everything would be okay, even when the world was falling apart.
“He was more than blood. He was my partner, my protector, my mirror and the one who never let me doubt the dreams we held close. Since childhood, we were inseparable. Clinton used to say – ‘we’re going to make it, bro’.
“I believed him, because he never gave up on himself, on me or on any vision we carried together. Clinton didn’t just dream, he moved with purpose to make those dreams real - always putting others first before thinking of himself.
“His death wasn’t just a loss. It was an execution of everything good, everything hopeful and everything sacred in our lives. Clinton didn’t die of sickness, he didn’t pass peacefully, he was taken. Murdered.
“Since that day, nothing has been the same. Our family has not had a moment’s peace. We have spent countless hours and days on the road, traveling back and forth, attending court dates, facing grief in public spaces while privately falling apart.
“We have sat in rooms with lawyers and detectives when we should have been celebrating milestones in our lives with Clinton. Time has passed but our pain remains frozen in that moment he was taken from us.
“My mother doesn’t sleep through the night anymore. She walks quietly, with grief buried deep in her bones, carrying a weight no mother should ever carry. My father looks for words he can’t find. The whole family has been stripped of joy, laughter and ease.
“There is an emptiness at every birthday, every holiday, every ordinary moment that used to be extraordinary because Clinton was in it.
“We have lost more than a brother, a son, a cousin. We have lost the person who made everyone feel like family, who took us to events, made every gathering joyful, and reminded us constantly what love, loyalty, and faith truly looked like.
“Clinton was everything that was good. His attention to detail, his outrageous sense of humour, his ability to make you feel seen, it was rare. He was rare.
“He was grounded in faith, an unshakable faith in God. Even when things got hard, his trust in God was the anchor we all held on to. Now, it’s that same faith we cling to in our darkest hour. We believe Clinton is watching over us. But it doesn’t take away the ache, the silence, the screams we have buried. The questions we will never have answers to.
“Clinton was murdered in the prime of his life. He was riding towards the dream, a life we envisioned together. A life where goodness triumphed. But someone took that from him. Murdered him in cold blood, for what? We still don’t understand. All we know is that he is gone and the people who loved him the most are left behind to pick up shattered pieces.
“We ask for justice, not just for Clinton, but for every sleepless night, every silent dinner, every cancelled moment of joy. We ask that the court see him not just as another case, but as a man who lived with intention, who built dreams out of love and whose legacy deserves protection,” the family added.