University student Sharon Otieno’s family is open to reconciliation with the family of former Migori governor Okoth Obado, despite the pain and anguish they have endured since she was abducted, raped and murdered in September 2018.
Obado, his former personal assistant Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero were on July 23, 2026 of murdering Sharon.
In a victim impact statement filed in court by the Probation and Aftercare Service, Sharon’s parents said they had no hard feelings towards Obado’s family and hoped that efforts to reconcile the two families could continue.
The family said a reconciliation meeting was held in August led by Obado’s brother, Dominic Peter Akugo, Daudi Okoth and his sister-in-law, Lenah Awino.
Sharon’s family was represented by her father Douglas Zacharia Otieno and mother Melida Auma, aunt Benta Rose, uncles and grandmother Rose Ndege.
The family also expressed hope that Obado would honour a promise he made to Sharon before her death to buy her a plot and build her a house.
Former Migori Governor Zachary Okoth Obado is escorted out of the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on July 23, 2026, after being found guilty of the 2018 murder of Sharon Otieno. Lady Justice Cecilia Githua delivered the verdict at the Criminal Division of the High Court, where Obado and his former aides, Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero, were found guilty.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“The reconciliation meeting struck some ground where representatives of the first accused/offender, which included his two brothers and a sister in-law met with the victim’s family and agreed that the first accused had made some promises to the deceased and that they were still committed to fulfilling them,” the report stated.
According to the report, fulfilling the promise would help Sharon’s three children, who are being raised by her parents.
The children are aged 12,10 and eight years.
During the trial, Sharon had reportedly wanted a house valued at Sh25 million, among other demands.
The family said the support would help ease the economic burden caused by her death, particularly the cost of raising the orphaned children. The family said it had been difficult to explain to the children what happened to their mother, with the younger ones still seeking answers.
“The death of Sharon shattered their dreams since she carried the vision of the family to a better future. The sight of her grave and the foetus is a stark reminder of the lost hope,” the family said in the report.
The children, it added, require food, shelter, clothing, education and emotional support and were yet to come to terms with their mother’s death.
Sharon, 26, was a Rongo University student pursuing a diploma in medical records when she was killed. She was also 28 weeks pregnant.
Her family told the probation officer that she had received death threats before her death, leaving her distressed and uncertain about her safety. At one point, she fled to Tanzania but later returned.
The family said her death had affected them psychologically, socially and economically, while disrupting their lives.
They also asked for compensation recalling that they had spent about Sh1.2 million on her burial and funeral arrangements, while another Sh3.5 million had gone towards other expenses and supporting the family and children.
The parents of the late Sharon Otieno, Melinda Auma (left) and Douglas Otieno, during the delivery of judgment in the murder case of their daughter at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on July 23, 2026. Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado and his co-accused Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero, were found guilty of murder.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
The family recalled that they had to travel to Nairobi for court proceedings for seven years and 10 months, incurring costs for transport, food and accommodation.
They said they continued to live in fear and needed psychosocial support, including counselling.
Obado was convicted alongside his former personal assistant Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero for the murder of Sharon.
As for Oyamo and Obiero, the family expressed fears about the two, stating they do not know what would happen after they are sentenced.
Justice Cecilia Githua found that prosecutors had established a coordinated plan involving the three men and other people who were never charged.
Sharon and XYZ met Oyamo at Graca Hotel in Rongo on September 3, 2018, the fateful day.
Oyamo later persuaded them to move to another location so that he could relay a message from Obado and they boarded a taxi driven by Jackson Otieno Gombe and headed towards Homa Bay before two men joined them.
XYZ escaped by jumping from the moving vehicle, but Sharon was abducted, raped and later killed.
Gombe corroborated parts of the journalist’s account, telling the court that he saw Oyamo at Graca Hotel before he left and later boarded another vehicle driven by Obiero near a petrol station.
The late Sharon Otieno.
Photo credit: Pool
Prosecutors argued that the pregnancy posed a threat to Obado’s political standing and that Sharon’s efforts to bring the relationship into the public domain increased the pressure surrounding the matter.
Justice Githua agreed, finding that Obado had the greatest interest in preventing the pregnancy and their relationship from becoming 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 judge further found that evidence pointed to attempts to create a false alibi after Sharon disappeared.
“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,” she said.
Obado, 64, maintained during the proceedings that he was not involved in Sharon’s killing, arguing that political opponents had exploited his relationship with her.
The report said Obado, a former governor, teacher and Kenya Sugar Board director and chairman, remains a key figure in his family and has indicated that he has no hard feelings towards Sharon’s relatives.
The pre-sentence report said the community in Uriri, Homa Bay County also recognised Obado’s contribution to the community and described him as a man of the people and an elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
While acknowledging the seriousness of the offence, some members of the community appealed for leniency in sentencing.
For Sharon’s parents, reconciliation does not erase the loss. They said her memory remains painful and that the family continues to require psychological and economic support as it raises the children she left behind.
The family added through their lawyer that they wished to file their report, while Obado and his two co-accused as well as the prosecution, also sought time to file their submissions.
