Nearly eight years after the brutal killing of Rongo University student Sharon Otieno shook the nation, justice has finally caught up with former Migori Governor Okoth Obado and his two co-accused.
On Thursday, July 23, 2026, High Court Lady Justice Cecilia Githua delivered the long-awaited verdict, finding Obado, his former personal assistant Michael Oyamo, and former Migori County communications director Caspal Obiero guilty of the murder of the 26-year-old student. The court ruled that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The case dates back to the night of September 3 and 4, 2018, when Sharon, who was about seven months pregnant at the time, was abducted alongside Nation Media Group journalist Barrack Oduor after they left a hotel in Rongo.
Oduor managed to escape by jumping from the moving vehicle, but Sharon was later found dead near Kodera Forest in Uriri, Homa Bay County. A postmortem conducted by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor established that she died from strangulation and excessive bleeding caused by multiple stab wounds.
The killing sparked nationwide outrage and prompted a multi-agency investigation that quickly turned its focus to senior officials in the Migori County government.
Obado was arrested and first appeared before the High Court on September 24, 2018, where he was jointly charged with Sharon's murder alongside Oyamo and Obiero. All three pleaded not guilty.
Throughout the trial, which commenced in July 2021, the prosecution called 42 witnesses and presented 81 exhibits to build a compelling circumstantial case.
The court heard that Sharon and a protected witness identified only as XYZ were lured to a waiting vehicle outside Graca Hotel in Rongo before being abducted.
In her ruling, Justice Githua made it clear that Obado had a strong motive to eliminate Sharon. "It's my considered view that Obado had a motive to eliminate Sharon in order to save himself from possible public embarrassment," the judge stated.
She further observed: "There is no doubt that the first accused (Obado) would have been the ultimate beneficiary of such a plot as he was likely to suffer public embarrassment had the story gone public".
The court rejected Obado's claim that he had accepted Sharon's pregnancy and was supporting her genuinely. Justice Githua found that the money Obado gave to Sharon was not intended for her wellbeing but was designed to manage and silence her.
The judge noted that Obado had pressured Sharon to terminate the pregnancy and allegedly gave her Ksh30,000 for that purpose, which she declined following advice from her mother.
"If indeed he was caring throughout the pregnancy as he alleged, my take is that he would not have distanced himself [and] refuse to pick up his phone calls," the judge ruled.
The court found that Obado, using his influence as Governor of Migori County, enlisted the services of his trusted aides, Oyamo and Obiero, to execute the scheme.
The prosecution had argued that the three acted together to eliminate Sharon and silence a protected witness to shield Obado from political embarrassment and reputational damage.
In his defence, Obado maintained that he neither killed Sharon nor conspired with anyone to do so. He insisted he was at former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Karen residence on the day Sharon was murdered. However, the judge was not convinced.
The verdict brings to a close one of Kenya's most high-profile criminal trials, a case that has gripped the nation for more than seven years. For Sharon's family, who arrived at Milimani Law Courts with solemn expressions on Thursday morning, it is a moment of long-awaited closure.
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