My son’s full recovery is the priority – DJ Evolve’s father John Orinda

DJ Evolve aka Felix Orinda and his father John Orinda. [Courtesy]

John Orinda, the father of DJ Evolve, says his son’s full recovery is the priority right now.

His remarks come on the back of split opinion on Twitter, with a section of the online users stating that the key suspect in DJ Evolve’s shooting, Babu Owino, ought to have faced prosecution.

John Orinda, however, says the biggest justice for his son would be his full recovery and not Owino’s jailing.

“People have the right to voice their opinion on what should happen, and what shouldn’t. However, for me, my son’s well-being overrides all other issues,” John told The Standard.

“I hear some people claiming that I exchanged my son’s case for money. What do people take me for? A callous man who would sell his son’s welfare the way a farmer would sell his goat at the market?” posed John, adding: “I am a Christian, and my conscience wouldn’t allow me to do that.”

“I know there are people who would wish to see Babu Owino in jail. But, what would we gain if he is sent to prison and my son dies?”

John says there’s an agreement that Owino takes care of Evolve’s medical bills, to the point he would be able to stand on his feet again.

That agreement, among other demands, is what led to the withdrawal of Babu Owino’s attempted murder case on Tuesday, December 14. 

The Embakasi East MP pledged to clear DJ Evolve’s Sh17 million medical bill at Nairobi Hospital, pay nursing home costs, set up a DJ academy for the entertainer, buy him a Toyota Noah, pay in advance his two-year rent, water, electricity, internet and drug costs; buy him a house and build the deejay another house in Utawala.

DJ Evolve filed his notice of withdrawal on September 21, 2020, eight months after the shooting incident.

In a June 8, 2021 interview with The Standard, John Orinda said doctors project his son would fully heal by early 2023.

“Doctors project that he will heal fully in two-and-a-half years and that his wounds are healing gradually but steadily,” he said on June 8.

DJ Evolve, who was allegedly shot in the neck by Embakasi East MP Babu Owino on January 17, 2020, at the B-Club nightspot in Nairobi, left Nairobi Hospital in June 2020 and has since then been recuperating at home.