The murder trial of former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, his former personal assistant Michael Oyamo and former county employee Caspal Obiero lasted seven years and 10 months, during which prosecutors called 42 witnesses to reconstruct the events leading to the killing of university student Sharon Otieno.
Although dozens of witnesses testified, the case ultimately turned on the evidence of a handful of key witnesses whose accounts linked the three men to the murder and persuaded the court that they had acted in concert.
Among them was a protected witness, identified only as XYZ, a journalist who had been investigating Sharon’s relationship with Obado and accompanied her to several meetings with the former governor and Oyamo.
Sharon Otieno murder convicts Michael Oyamo, Caspal Obiero and ex-Migori Governor Okoth Obado in the dock on July 23, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
His testimony was corroborated by taxi driver Jackson Otieno Gombe, who ferried Sharon, XYZ and her abductors on the day she was killed, as well as Lawrence Mullah, a friend who testified about attempts to persuade Sharon to terminate her pregnancy.
Sharon’s mother, Melida Auma, also gave crucial evidence about her daughter’s determination to keep the baby despite pressure to have an abortion.
Melida Auma, mother of the late Sharon Otieno.
Photo credit: Ondari Ogega | Nation Media Group
Justice Cecilia Githua found that the prosecution had proved the existence of a carefully coordinated plan involving the three accused and other people who were never charged.
The judge concluded that the meeting at Graca Hotel on September 3, 2018, was not a genuine attempt to relay a message from Obado to Sharon, as Oyamo claimed, but the point at which Sharon and XYZ were handed over to her killers.
“I strongly take the view that the meeting at Graca Hotel was not to convey a message from Obado to Sharon and XYZ but to hand over the two to Sharon’s killers,” Justice Githua ruled.
XYZ told the court that Oyamo arranged the meeting at Graca Hotel before persuading him and Sharon to relocate so he could relay Obado’s message.
They boarded a taxi driven by Gombe and headed towards Homa Bay before two men joined them. The men later abducted Sharon and XYZ. XYZ escaped by jumping from the moving vehicle, but Sharon was later raped and murdered.
His account was reinforced by Gombe, who testified that he saw Oyamo at Graca Hotel before watching him leave and board another vehicle driven by Obiero near a petrol station.
Jackson Otieno Gombe, a taxi driver, gives his testimony at Milimani Law Court on July 28, 2023, Sharon Otieno's death.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
Although the defence highlighted inconsistencies over whether Oyamo boarded the vehicle at the hotel and the colour of the car, the court dismissed the contradictions as immaterial.
“The contradictions related to whether Oyamo boarded the vehicle at the hotel or the colour of the vehicle related to peripheral matters and did not go to the root of the prosecution’s evidence,” Justice Githua said.
The judge said she observed the witnesses as they testified and found that they gave clear and consistent accounts of the events.
Justice Githua added that Gombe had satisfactorily explained that discrepancies in his police statement resulted from the manner in which investigators recorded his account rather than any attempt by him to mislead the court.
Lady Justice Cecilia Githua presides over the hearing at the Criminal Division of the High Court at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on July 23, 2026, during the delivery of judgment in the Sharon Otieno murder case.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“I am satisfied from the evidence of XYZ and the taxi driver that Oyamo was present at the hotel and near the unidentified men who abducted, sexually assaulted and eventually killed Sharon.”
The court also rejected Oyamo’s account of how he left the hotel, describing it as implausible and unsupported by the evidence. His explanation that he travelled by matatu and boda boda before returning to the governor’s office contained unexplained gaps, the judge found.
Mullah testified that between March and May 2018, Sharon confided in him that she had met Obado in Nairobi, where the governor allegedly told her he was not ready for the pregnancy and urged her to terminate it.
According to Mullah, Obado gave Sharon Sh30,000 for the abortion and instructed her to channel all matters concerning the pregnancy through Oyamo.
The late Sharon Otieno. Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado and two co-accused have been convicted of murdering the university student.
Photo credit: Pool
XYZ also testified that Sharon had shown him photographs of herself with Obado, screenshots of their conversations and audio recordings of telephone calls between them.
In one recording, Obado allegedly pleaded with Sharon to stop posting photographs of them together on social media, particularly pictures taken in hotels they had visited. In another, he allegedly urged her to procure an abortion, saying time was running out.
The journalist further told the court that Sharon became increasingly distressed after Obado stopped taking her calls and withdrew financial support.
The prosecution argued that an earlier trip by Sharon and XYZ to Nairobi formed part of the same pattern. They travelled after being promised a meeting with Obado at Sagret Hotel, but the governor never appeared. Instead, Sharon received Sh22,000 through a hotel receptionist before returning to Homa Bay disappointed and fearful.
“This was not a benign engagement, but part of a pattern of control, delay and deception, culminating in the events of September 3, 2018,” prosecutors submitted.
Justice Githua agreed, finding that Obado stood to benefit most if Sharon was silenced before news of the pregnancy became public.
“There is no doubt that the first accused would have been the ultimate beneficiary of such a plot as he was likely to suffer public embarrassment had the story gone public,” she ruled.
The court also found that evidence presented by investigators pointed to attempts to create a false alibi after Sharon’s disappearance.
“The evidence shows that Sharon Otieno’s pregnancy and engagement with XYZ posed a real and imminent threat to the first accused’s public standing. Sharon had already engaged the media. XYZ was actively pursuing the story. The removal of Sharon and the silencing of XYZ directly served the interests of one person: the first accused,” Justice Githua said.
