Babu Owino Wants Court to Acquit Him in Firearm Misuse Case

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino alias Paul Ongili has asked the court to acquit him on his firearm misuse charges due to lack of evidence. 

Through his lawyer, Duncan Okatch, Babu told the senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi that according to Section 215 of the CPC, he should be acquitted. He criticized the prosecution for wasting judicial time on a case that was never meant to be instituted. In his defence, Babu said none of the witnesses had seen him behave in the manner he was accused of and that the CCTV evidence was not backed up by any witness statements.

"The prosecution claiming that the accused person was drunk and yet the same is not backed up by any toxicology report is just but a mere allegation whose burden rest on the prosecution to prove that the accused person was drunk hence causing him to behave in a disorderly manner," lawyer Okatch submitted. 

The lawyer also faulted the evidence of a waiter serving the MP, asserting that it failed to prove that Babu was under the influence of alcohol. Lastly, he pointed out that none of the witnesses, including the victim, had been able to prove that Babu had his firearm at the time of the incident. The defence has presented witnesses who corroborate the accused's claim that his gun was in the armoury at the material time, making it impossible for him to have shot the victim. 

Babu argued that the prosecution failed to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty. In other words, he said, the prosecution's case is one that civil litigants might consider as being scandalous, frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court system. Babu asserted that the case was likely brought forward with bad faith or incompetence, or both, and was a wasteful use of the court's time given the shortage of judicial officers in the country. 

Babu revealed that he had spent Sh58.6 million to cover the medical bills and the upkeep of DJ Evolve (also known as Felix Orinda). He described this as an indication of his moral responsibility as a leader. Babu was defending himself after the court found that he had a case to answer for the misuse of a firearm which shot DJ Evolve at B Club in 2020. He said that if he had not taken the initiative, Evolve would have died.