A taxi driver who drove university student Sharon Otieno to her death has testified against former Migori governor Okoth Obado.
Jackson Gombe told High Court Judge Cecilia Githua that on September 3, 2018, he was called by a police officer and told to head to Homa Bay where he was to meet Michael Oyamo, the governor’s personal assistant.
Former Migori Governor Zachary Okoth Obado (right), his co-accused Michael Oyamo at Milimani High Court in Nairobi on July 14, 2022.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo I Nation Media Group
He told the court that Mr Oyamo was left in Homa Bay while three men he (Mr Oyamo) was with got into his taxi along with Sharon and the man who was in Sharon's company.
The three men then told Mr Gombe to drive towards Kisumu. However, when he reached Sondu he was told to stop.
He said it was between 9 and 10pm when they reached an ininhabited area. The men took Sharon into the forest and never returned with her.
“I was ordered to switch off the vehicle lights and turn off the engine. The three men left with Sharon and into the forest. One man ordered me to wait they will come back,” Gombe recalled.
He said after about 20 minutes the three men returned alone and I asked them,“Where is the girl you went with?”
"When I asked them where the woman was, they replied in Kiswahili huyo tumemwacha kwao (we’ve left her at their home)," Mr Gombe told Magistrate Githua as he was led in his evidence by the prosecutor.
After that response, the judge heard one of the hitmen ordered him to drive them to Migori.
“There were four passangers at the back seat where did the man who was with Sharon go?” state prosecutor Allen Mulama asked Gombe.
“I did not ask them I presumed they left him at the home of Sharon as they claimed,” he answered.
Gombe said he arrived at Migori past 11pm on September 3, 2018 then closed the days business at midnight.
He said he went about his business until September 16, 2018 when he was arrested and interrogated over the death of Sharon by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Nairobi.
He was detained for 10 days and interrogated at Oyugis and Nairobi then placed under witness protection for three years. He later rejoined his family after being held in communicado.
“I could only speak to my family through the phones of officers of the protection agency,” Gombe stated.
He said he later came to learn that Sharon was killed the day he picked her from Gracia Hotel in Homa Bay.
Earlier the judge declined a request by the prosecution for Gombe to testify in camera saying, “no plausible reasons were advanced to keep members of the public out of the public trial.”
Defence lawyer led by Senior Counsel Kioko Kilukumi, Rodgers Sagana and Prof Elisha Ongoya have begun cross-examining Gombe , who is a key witness.
