• He said he was thrown out of his home by his Dad and had to find a way to survive
Image: courtesy
Gospel singer Daddy Owen says wanting to fit in led him down the wrong path, and he became a hardcore thug.
Speaking during Churchill Show 'Journey Edition' series, Owen said he had been thrown out of his home by his Dad alongside his brother Rufftone, and he had to find a way to survive.
"I was trying to find my way in Nairobi, I wanted to move in. I did not even know how to speak proper Swahili. I eventually realised I was not getting what I wanted," he said.
"I would see people with cash and girlfriends yet I had none, so one would tell you, 'You want to get these things? Lemmie show you what to do.'"
Slowly, he started being assigned by some gang. His work was to know where the matatu would stop and the escape routes they would use.
"My work was to make links between drivers or conductors. The others had guns but I was still young. I was terrified because I had never planned to be a gangster but circumstances put me there."
The deeper he went, the harder it was to come out.
In a past interview with Radio Jambo, the singer said he got a squint eye from a beating he got from an angry group he was trying to rob in his thieving days.
"My friends and I had planned to steal in a matatu, but things did not turn out well as the people in that matatu beat me up," he said.
Even as his gang members ended up being killed one by one, Daddy Owen was determined to continue with his lifestyle.
"Most of my friends were killed, others burned down to ashes, but I still did it. You know it is only serious when it happens to you?" he said.
Owen nearly lost his life upon being beaten up by a huge crowd when his attempt to steal from passengers was thwarted.
Fortunately, he escaped death and was rushed to the hospital.
"I realised I needed to change my life as well as behaviour. I had fought so hard to fit in the gang, but all of them did not come to visit me in hospital," he said.