Embakasi East MP Babu Owino at a Milimani court on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. [Collins Kweyu, Standard

The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) has appealed a decision by the court to acquit Embakasi East Member of Parliament (MP) Babu Owino in a case where he was charged with the misuse of a firearm in the shooting of Felix Orinda alias DJ Evolve.

Earlier in the week, Milimani Law Court Senior Principal Magistrate Bernard Ochoi set free Owino on the charge of misuse of a firearm and behaving disorderly at B-club, Kilimani where the DJ is said to have been shot. Ochoi ruled that the prosecution did not adduce sufficient evidence to convict the MP.

Owino was acquitted on grounds of “shoddy investigations.”

But in court papers seen by The Standard on Friday, September 1, the DPP, in his appeal, said that the magistrate erred in the judgment, and did not properly consider the evidence provided by the prosecution witnesses.

DPP listed six grounds disapproving of the court’s decision on Tuesday, August 29 saying, “The learned trial magistrate erred in law and fact by acquitting the respondent without considering the weight of evidence and testimony adduced by the prosecution witnesses.”

The DPP also argued that Magistrate Ochoi erred in finding the report provided by the ballistic expert inconclusive.

“The learned trial magistrate erred in law and fact by finding that there was no evidence of the victim having sustained gunshot wounds,” he added.

In his Tuesday judgment, the magistrate ruled that the prosecution failed to convince the court that Owino was involved in the shooting in a case that he said was of great public interest.

“The prosecution failed to record even a statement of the victim. The ballistic evidence produced in court was scanty and the same could not be relied upon to find the MP guilty,” ruled Ochoi.

At the dock, Owino denied the shooting charges and pleaded not guilty. He said he was a friend of the DJ and was meeting his expenses up to date.

The MP was charged with the shooting of DJ Evolve on January 17, 2020, at B-club, in Nairobi’s Kilimani estate.