Daddy Owen is a renowned gospel singer and minister. Before being saved, Daddy Owen was a member of a gangster group that robbed people of their valuables on the streets of Nairobi.
The singer became a thug because of the bad company that he used to have and being idle. His family was not aware of his mischievous behaviour.
In one of their theft missions, he witnessed the death off his friend that tormented him so much.
“One of a guys was caught and at the time we had not gone with him to rob. He was burnt alive . I saw it happen. He had been beaten such that he couldn’t talk. He was just looking at me but there is nothing I could do. I couldn’t save him. Those are the moments that when I look back they torture me. Because you see him, he has been beaten, he was burnt and there was nothing I could do,” he opened up in an interview with Oga Obinna.
From that incident, he realised that whatever they were was wrong. His colleagues were however quick to brush that off saying that his 40th day had arrived and they continued robbing people especially in events and matatus.
“It was easy to steal from people at events because those people used to walk with cash. If you get about five wallets you are good, 6 purses you are good, that was the trick, that was the plan, you tell some one put your hand in the air and put everything on the ground,” he narrated.
His 40th day however came in a mission that went wrong. This saw him lose one of his eyes.
“The plan went wrong and I was caught. Through mob justice I lost my eye. I call it mob injustice because there is no justice there. It was in town, near bomb blast. We had gone to steal inside a matatu, my colleagues however alighted earlier and I didn’t know. I started searching people, I was alone, aah I was beaten! They got me out of the matatu and had me sit on the ground. They descended on me properly, the watchmen, they beat my heels and kneels, I couldn’t stand. They didn’t get to my ‘machine’, I protected it. Every community is known for some sought of resourcefulness, that’s a resource.”
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Daddy Owen added that he was lucky to survive because it was at night. Had it been during day time, he could have been burnt like his late colleague.
“It was so weird because it was at night. At night is very different as compared to daytime. It was at night after event. It’s hard to find such in town at night. The beat me and left me there to die. I knew I had I was death, they also though the same,” he said.
Daddy Owen was then saved by one of the watchmen who was humane, after the mob had left. After regaining his strength, he boarded a matatu and left for home, where he was staying with his father and elder brother Rufftone.
After the incident, he realized that his eye had issues two days later.
“The biggest mistake I did was not going to hospital. I was afraid that I would be asked to bring the person who assaulted me. I was naive, I was 20. After a while after we moved out, I noticed the eye had began removing purse, it was turning white. It was swollen as if it wanted to pop out,” the artist recounted
He however met a white volunteer who offered to operate on the eye. The eye was permanently blind but the surgery was meant to correct its aesthetic features so that it won’t be scary.