Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado Found Guilty in the Murder of Sharon Otieno and Her Unborn Child

Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado has been found guilty of the murder of 26-year-old Rongo University student Sharon Otieno and her unborn child, in a ruling that brings to a close one of Kenya’s longest and most closely watched criminal trials. The High Court in Milimani, Nairobi delivered the verdict on May 29, 2026, nearly eight years after Sharon’s body was discovered dumped in a thicket in Owade village, Homa Bay County.

The case first entered public consciousness in early September 2018 when Sharon, who was 28 weeks pregnant at the time, went missing after leaving Graca Hotel in Rongo town in the company of a journalist and two other men. Two days later her body was found in Kodera Forest, and a post-mortem later established that she had died from severe bleeding caused by penetrating injuries and manual strangulation. The examination also indicated she had likely been subjected to sexual assault prior to her death, and that the pregnancy had ended with her. The brutality of the killing, combined with Sharon’s status as a university student and the questions that quickly emerged about her personal associations, turned the investigation into a national story almost overnight.

At the center of the prosecution’s case was an alleged intimate relationship between Sharon and Obado. The governor initially denied any involvement with the student, but DNA testing later confirmed he was the father of the seven-month fetus. Prosecutors told the court that the relationship became a source of political and reputational risk once the pregnancy became public, and they argued that what followed was not a random act of violence but a coordinated effort to silence Sharon and prevent further embarrassment. The State maintained that the abduction, killing, and disposal of the body were carried out with planning and support, and that multiple people played complementary roles in facilitating the crime and covering it up afterward.

Obado was charged alongside two other men: his former personal assistant Michael Juma Oyamo and the ex-Migori County Clerk Caspal Ojwang Obiero. The three were accused of acting in concert on the night of September 3 and 4, 2018, in the Owade area of Rachuonyo, Homa Bay. According to the prosecution, Sharon and Nation journalist Barrack Odour were lured into a vehicle at Graca Hotel. Odour later escaped by jumping from the moving car, but Sharon did not. The prosecution presented evidence from 42 witnesses over the course of the trial, including forensic experts who explained the cause of death and investigators who traced communications and movements in the hours before the abduction. The State submitted that funds, vehicles, and official resources were used to aid the operation, and that after the killing there were attempts to conceal evidence and mislead investigators.

The defense pushed back hard. Obado’s legal team, led by senior counsel Kioko Kilukumi and Rodger Sagana, argued throughout that the case was built on speculation, rumor, and circumstantial inference rather than direct proof. In written submissions filed in February 2026, Obado maintained that he and Sharon had reached an understanding that he would support her welfare and that of the unborn baby, including an agreement to purchase land in Homa Bay and build a house for her. He told the court that convictions in criminal matters cannot rest on assumptions or armchair theories, and that the prosecution had failed to meet the threshold of proof beyond reasonable doubt. The defense also questioned the handling of evidence, including delays in establishing the status of CCTV footage, and urged Justice Cecilia Githua to acquit.

Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero were tried alongside Obado. Oyamo’s phone contact with Sharon shortly before her disappearance was highlighted by the prosecution as a key link, while Obiero was alleged to have played a role in coordination and facilitation. All three had been placed on their defense in September 2024 after the court found that the prosecution had presented enough material to require them to answer the charges. Earlier in the proceedings the three had also faced a separate count relating to the death of the unborn child, but that charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence to sustain it as a distinct murder offense under the law.

Justice Githua reserved judgment in March 2026, noting the volume of proceedings, exhibits, and lengthy submissions that needed careful consideration. She set May 29, 2026 as the date for the ruling and directed that all accused persons appear physically in court. When the day came, Courtroom No. 35 was filled with family members, journalists, civil society observers, and members of the public who had followed the case since it first dominated headlines in 2018. The killing had not only sparked outrage over gender-based violence but also raised difficult questions about the abuse of power, accountability in public office, and the vulnerabilities faced by young women.

In delivering the verdict, the court found that the prosecution had established, to the required legal standard, that Obado, Oyamo, and Obiero participated in a common plan that resulted in Sharon’s death. The judge referenced the sequence of events before and after September 3, 2018, the communications evidence, and the pattern of conduct that the State argued pointed to planning rather than coincidence. The court concluded that the actions attributed to the three accused were directed toward silencing Sharon and neutralizing the risk of further disclosure, and that this amounted to murder under Kenyan law.

The conviction marks the end of a trial that has run for almost eight years and has been a reference point in national conversations about political accountability. Sharon’s death drew immediate condemnation from women’s rights groups and legal experts, who described it as emblematic of the dangers that can arise when power and personal relationships intersect without transparency. The chief prosecutor at the time of the charges described the killing as gruesome and horrifying, and said that both Sharon and her unborn baby lost their lives in the hands of their killers.

For Obado, the guilty finding closes a chapter that began with his arrest in September 2018, followed by a period in remand and later release on bail of Ksh 5 million. He had consistently denied involvement, and his lawyers argued up to the final submissions that the evidence did not connect him to the physical act of killing. The court, however, determined that the law recognizes participation through planning, facilitation, and common intention, not only direct physical action.

Outside the courtroom, reactions were immediate. Supporters of Sharon’s family said the verdict affirmed that no one is above the law, while others noted the long wait for justice and the toll the trial took on witnesses and the Otieno family. Legal analysts pointed out that the case will likely be studied for years to come as an example of how circumstantial evidence, digital records, and witness testimony can be woven together in complex prosecutions involving public figures.

Sentencing is expected to follow in the coming weeks, after mitigation and pre-sentence reports. The maximum penalty for murder in Kenya is the death sentence, though courts have discretion to consider other factors. For now, the ruling brings a measure of closure to a case that has haunted Migori and the country since that morning in September 2018 when news broke of a young student’s body found in a thicket, and a pregnancy that would never come to term.

The story of Sharon Otieno has remained in public memory not only because of the violence of her death but because of what it revealed about power, secrecy, and the demand for accountability. With the court’s decision, the legal process that began with an abduction at a hotel in Rongo has reached its judgment, and the focus now turns to the consequences that follow.