Security tightened at Milimani Law Courts ahead of Sharon Otieno murder case judgment
By Zipporah Ngwatu, July 23, 2026Security has been heightened at the Milimani Law Courts, with anti-riot police deployed ahead of the judgment in the murder case of Sharon Otieno.
Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, who had previously been in a relationship with the deceased, is the first accused in the case. He is charged alongside his former aides, Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero.
The anti-riot police officers were deployed as Justice Cecilia Githua neared concluding the reading of the judgement that has found the three guilty of the murder of the late Sharon Otieno.
Judge Githua has noted that the deceased’s death was not accidental, nor was it through natural causes, but from the severe injuries inflicted on her; it was well planned and executed.
The court observed that the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence and presented different strands of evidence that showed the Obado, Oyamo and Caspal acted together with common intention to eliminate Sharon.
“From the nature and severity of her injuries, it was clear that her death was neither accidental nor through natural causes. It was therefore caused by an unlawful act,” Judge Githua ruled.
Judge Githua noted that Obado had a clear motive to murder the deceased, founded on the hostile relationship as a result of the deceased’s failure to yield to his demands to procure an abortion, the deceased contacting a journalist with a view of publishing her story, and the deceased’s exorbitant financial demands.
Notably, the judge has stated that although Obado was in Nairobi on the material day the pregnant ex-lover was murdered, him being in Nairobi was intentional since he did not need to be at the scene to have committed the crime.
The court has also found that Oyamo, Obado’s former personal assistant, operated on his boss’s motive, directly reporting to and receiving instructions from the former county chief, adding that he registered an Airtel line fraudulently to conceal his communications with the deceased and other witnesses.
In convicting Oyamo, the court has stated that he was the one who channelled money through third parties and attended a planning meeting at the Caspal’s second wife’s home the day Sharon was murdered.
The court also noted that Oyamo was amongst the last persons seen with the deceased at Graca Hotel before she left in a motor vehicle with the assailants and was later found dead.
Oyamo has also been found to have lodged a false police report after the killing and also procured fabricated medical reports and actions that the court state reveal not only participation but also a calculated effort to cover his tracks, consistent with guilt rather than innocence.
Justice Githua has also found Caspal guilty of Sharon’s murder, for he was the one who provided logistical support and concealment and worked closely with Oyamo.
The court found that Caspal’s home in Nyamune was used in the pre-planting meeting and his wife’s vehicle was used in the kidnapping of the deceased and ensured that its tracking system was tampered with on the material day, thus helping Oyamo to procure forged medical documents.
“This manipulation was a deliberate measure to frustrate investigators and erase evidence. His defence did not comprehensively challenge the evidence of these meetings or the tampering with the defence vehicle, leaving the prosecution’s account intact,” Judge Githua ruled.
“These steps were not incidental but deliberate measures to shield the criminal enterprise from detection, showing his active role in committing the offence,” the judge added.
Judge Githua has found that the evidence pointed irresistibly to the guilt of the accused persons as charged beyond any reasonable doubt.
She has ruled that their coordinated conduct rendered each equally liable for the offence, as the murder was carried out in furtherance of their shared unlawful purpose.
“The Court consequently found that the prosecution had proved beyond any reasonable doubt that each of the accused persons, jointly with others not before the court, with malice aforethought, caused the death of the deceased,” Judge Githua ruled.