High Court Judge Cecilia Githua found former Migori Governor Zachariah Okoth Obado, along with his former personal assistant Michael Oyamo and former Migori County Clerk Caspal Obiero, guilty of murder in the 2018 killing of Rongo University student Sharon Otieno.
The court found that Obado had a compelling motive to silence Sharon Otieno to prevent the public disclosure of their extramarital affair and her pregnancy, which posed significant reputational and political risks.
Although there were no direct eyewitnesses, Justice Githua ruled that the prosecution established an “unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence” pointing directly to the three accused.
The court held that Michael Oyamo lured Otieno to a meeting under false pretenses before handing her over to abductors, while Caspal Obiero facilitated the logistics and transport.
The judge rejected Obado’s defense regarding his physical absence at the scene of the crime, ruling that physical absence does not absolve criminal liability when acting in concert with perpetrators.
Sharon Otieno, a 26-year-old university student who was seven months pregnant, was abducted alongside a local journalist and later found murdered in a forest in Homa Bay County.
Okoth Obado, Michael Oyamo, and Caspal Obiero were arrested and formally charged with murder at the Milimani High Court in Nairobi.
High Court Judge Cecilia Githua ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie case, putting all three accused on their defense.
Justice Githua found all three accused guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, concluding an eight-year legal battle.
With the guilty verdict delivered, the High Court will proceed to pre-sentencing reports and mitigation hearings before pronouncing the final sentences for Obado and his co-convicts.
