Mr Michael Oyamo, the former personal assistant to ex-Migori Governor Okoth Obado, has distanced himself from allegations that he handed over Rongo University student Sharon Otieno to killers on September 3, 2018.
At the time of her death, Sharon was 28 weeks pregnant with Mr Obado’s child.
Mr Oyamo, who was in the dock for the second day running, told trial judge Cecilia Githua that Sharon and a journalist identified as XYZ boarded a car outside Gracia Hotel after he met them.
Mr Oyamo, Mr Obado, and former Migori County employee Casper Obiero have been put on their defence for the murder of Sharon after Justice Githua ruled that there was sufficient evidence linking them to the murder.
Mr Oyamo denied luring Sharon and XYZ to the killers on September 3, 2018, when he met them at Gracia Hotel and gave her Sh100,000 from Mr Obado.
“I did not hand over Sharon to her killers on September 3, 2018,” Mr Oyamo told Justice Githua.
The ex-PA said that Sharon and XYZ left with the vehicle they had hired, and a guard at the Gracia Hotel called for a boda boda to take him home.
He disclosed that on September 4, 2018, he was to accompany Mr Obado on a governors’ trip to Rwanda.
Mr Oyamo said that on the morning of September 4, 2018, social media was awash with news that he had handed over Sharon to killers.
Following these claims, he cancelled the trip and surrendered himself to police at Uriri Police Station in Migori.
The reports claimed that XYZ jumped out of the speeding killers’ car and later filed a report with police about the incident and how he and Sharon had met Oyamo at Gracia Hotel.
XYZ disclosed that Mr Oyamo was organising how he and Sharon were to meet Mr Obado to resolve a stalemate over funds being disbursed for Sharon’s upkeep.
At Uriri Police Station, the OCPD called in the OCS, before whom Mr Oyamo narrated the incident and what he knew about the abduction and subsequent killing of Sharon and her unborn baby.
The accused said that while at the police station, he called his brother to hand over his passport and the money he was to use for the Rwanda trip with his former boss.
Mr Oyamo said he was subjected to intense interrogation by crime detectives from Migori and Nairobi.
He said he was locked up until he was presented in court to answer to charges of murdering Sharon and her unborn child.
The three—Mr Obado, Mr Oyamo, and Mr Obiero—were acquitted of the charge of murdering the unborn baby.
Earlier, Mr Oyamo said former MCA Lawrence Mullah (now deceased), XYZ, and Sharon had made frantic efforts to meet Mr Obado in Nairobi, in vain, to resolve a financial dispute. She claimed she felt she was being taken advantage of by Mullah and XYZ.
Mullah had been picked by Finance CS John Mbadi to look for a parcel of land in Homa Bay to buy for Sharon and build her a house.
Sharon had complained that the two men were demanding to receive an equal share of the disbursements from Mr Obado, which were being channelled through Mr Oyamo.
On September 3, 2018, Mr Oyamo split the Sh100,000 he had received from Obado to pass on to Sharon.
He secretly gave her Sh50,000 as they moved toward the car that she and XYZ later boarded. The balance of Sh50,000 was shared between Sharon (Sh40,000) and XYZ (Sh10,000).
Witnesses said Mr Oyamo was used to lure Sharon to her death since her relationship with Mr Obado had displeased the governor’s family and damaged his public image.
The hearing continues on May 23, 2025, when the prosecution, through Counsel Gikui Gichuhi, Mercy Njoroge, and Millicent Kigura, will cross-examine Mr Oyamo.
