The prosecution in the trial of former Migori governor Okoth Obado and two others has urged the High Court to find the three guilty of murder of former university student Sharon Otieno, more than seven years ago.
In submissions filed in court, the prosecution said it established that Mr Obado, his personal assistant Michael Oyamo and Mr Caspal Obiero acted in concert, with a common intention to eliminate Sharon and silence XYZ (a protected witness) to avert escalating embarrassment, reputational harm, and political fallout to the governor.
The three were placed on their defence in September last year in the murder of the 26-year-old former Rongo University student.
They allegedly committed the offence on the night of September 3 and 4, 2018, at the Owade area in Rachuonyo, Homa Bay County.
Sharon was murdered after being abducted alongside XYZ, but XYZ managed to escape, after allegedly jumping out of the vehicle.
Ms Sharon Otieno, a Rongo University student who was brutally murdered and her body dumped in a thicket in Oyugis, Homa Bay County on September 4, 2018.
Photo credit: Courtesy
The prosecution alleged that the two were lured into a waiting vehicle at Graca Hotel, Rongo town, in the evening before being abducted.
“The actions of 1st 2nd and 3rd accused (Obado, Oyamo and Obiero) were complementary and directed toward silencing the deceased and neutralizing XYZ,” said the prosecution in the submissions.
According to the prosecution, the three accused persons took part in planning and coordination of roles, provision of funds, facilitation of movements and post-offence concealment.
“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,” said the prosecution.
Mr Obado, in his submissions, however, rubbished the claims, saying he was only charged because he was in an intimate relationship with Sharon and she was carrying his child.
At the time of her death, Sharon was 28-weeks pregnant and her killers sexually assaulted her. Among the items collected from the scene were two used condoms.
According to the prosecution, Sharon was killed because she wanted to go public with the relationship with Mr Obado.
Further, Mr Oyamo and Obiero were allegedly present near or at Graca Hotel on the evening of September 3, 2018, when Sharon and XYZ were abducted.
“The evidence shows that Sharon Otieno’s pregnancy and engagement with XYZ posed a real and imminent threat to the 1st accused’s public standing,” the submissions said.
The prosecution further said Sharon had already engaged the media and XYZ was actively pursuing the story and silencing the two directly served the interests of Mr Obado.
“He was the ultimate beneficiary of the offence,” said the prosecution.
Being the governor’s personal assistant, Mr Oyamo was entrusted with sensitive personal matters while Mr Obiero allegedly worked in close operational proximity. “They were not casual employees; they were trusted insiders,” added the prosecution.
Mr Obado, however, maintained that the prosecution’s case was built on conspiracies and lies.
The former Migori governor admitted that he had an affair with Sharon and actually provided for her and her unborn baby to the last minute.
The last money she was sent was Sh100,000 on August 17, 2018, 16 days before her killing.
Mr Obado said the uncontroverted evidence of Sharon’s parents was that after several meetings, they agreed that Sharon would be settled down in Homabay, where land would be acquired to build her a home and for the home to be furnished.
“Indeed, the pregnancy was the only reason for the arrest and prosecution of the 1st accused,” he said in his submissions.
Regrettably, Mr Obado said that instead of pursuing objective, independent, scientific and professional criminal investigations, the investigators were also consumed by the suspicions and devoted their investigations to proving the suspicions correct and accurate.
“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 any way whatsoever in the killing of Sharon is spectacularly lacking,” he submitted.
Mr Obado maintained that there was no direct evidence on the identity of the four persons responsible for the actual killing of Sharon.
“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 said.
He said that on the fateful day, his call data confirmed that he was in Nairobi preparing for an official trip to Rwanda.
“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 Obado added.
The three accused persons further said the motor vehicle brought before the court and its driver were deliberately planted by the police, fully aware that the testimony was falsified.
