The High Court is expected to decide today (Thursday, July 23, 2026) whether former Migori Governor Okoth Obado and two co-accused are guilty of murdering university student Sharon Otieno, bringing to a close a trial that has gripped the country for more than seven years.
Justice Cecilia Githua will deliver the long-awaited judgment after hearing testimony from 42 prosecution witnesses, considering 81 exhibits and receiving final submissions from both the prosecution and the defence.
Mr Obado, his former personal assistant Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero are charged with the murder of the 26-year-old, who was killed on September 3 and 4, 2018, in Owade, Homa Bay County. The three have denied the charges.
In closing submissions, the prosecution urged the court to find the three guilty, arguing that they acted together to eliminate Sharon and silence a protected witness, identified only as XYZ, to shield Mr Obado from political embarrassment and reputational damage. Sharon was 28 weeks pregnant when she was killed.
According to the prosecution, Sharon and XYZ were lured to a waiting vehicle outside Graca Hotel in Rongo before being abducted.
Sharon was later found murdered, while XYZ escaped after allegedly jumping from the moving vehicle.
"The actions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd accused (Obado, Oyamo and Obiero) were complementary and directed toward silencing the deceased and neutralizing XYZ," the prosecution submitted.
The prosecution argued that the evidence showed careful planning and coordination among the accused, including the provision of funds, facilitation of movements and efforts to conceal the crime afterward.
"The evidence demonstrates planning, facilitation, execution and cover-up, all hallmarks of a joint criminal enterprise. The defence has sought to portray the 1st accused as a distant figure. That portrayal is inconsistent with the evidence," the prosecution said.
The prosecution further argued that Sharon's pregnancy and her engagement with XYZ, who was pursuing the story, posed "a real and imminent threat" to Mr Obado's public image.
It maintained that Sharon intended to make the relationship public and that silencing both her and XYZ directly benefited the former governor.
"He was the ultimate beneficiary of the offence," the prosecution submitted.
The State also argued that Mr Oyamo, as Mr Obado's personal assistant, handled sensitive personal matters, while Mr Obiero operated closely with him.
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
"They were not casual employees; they were trusted insiders," the prosecution said.
A post-mortem showed she had also been sexually assaulted, and investigators recovered two used condoms from the crime scene.
But Mr Obado urged the court to reject the prosecution's case, submitting that the case was built on suspicion rather than evidence.
In his defence, he admitted having an intimate relationship with Sharon and acknowledged responsibility for her pregnancy, saying he supported her financially until shortly before her death.
He told the court the last payment he sent her was Sh100,000 on August 17, 2018, just over two weeks before she was killed.
Mr Obado also relied on evidence from Sharon's parents, saying they had agreed during several meetings that she would settle in Homa Bay, where land would be purchased and a home built for her.
"Indeed, the pregnancy was the only reason for the arrest and prosecution of the 1st accused," Mr Obado submitted.
The late Sharon Otieno. Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado and two co-accused have been convicted of murdering the university student.
Photo credit: Pool
He accused investigators of allowing suspicion to dictate the direction of the inquiry instead of conducting an objective and professional investigation.
"We submit that the prosecution evidence, taken at its best, is that the investigators and prosecution have managed to paint, with a broad brush, the 1st accused with the colours of suspicion. Evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the 1st accused participated in anyway whatsoever in the killing of Sharon is spectacularly lacking," his lawyer Kioko Kilukumi said.
The lawyer argued there was no direct evidence linking him to the killers or to the events at Graca Hotel on the night Sharon and XYZ were abducted.
"No evidence was ever adduced to demonstrate that the 1st accused knew of a meeting at Graca Hotel, Rongo at the material time. No evidence was adduced that the accused hired, procured or otherwise contracted the killers directly or indirectly," he submitted.
He further told the court that call data placed him in Nairobi on the day of the murder as he prepared for an official trip to Rwanda.
The late Sharon Otieno.
Photo credit: Pool
"It is our humble submission that the investigators never got the actual vehicle that carried the actual killers on the material day. Equally, they have never arrested any of the actual killers," Mr Kilukumi said.
The three accused also alleged that the vehicle produced in court, together with its driver, had been deliberately planted by investigators and that the evidence surrounding it had been fabricated.
