Michael Juma Oyamo, the former personal assistant to ex-Migori Governor Okoth Obado, has denied orchestrating or participating in the abduction and murder of Rongo University student Sharon Otieno. Appearing before High Court Judge Cecilia Githua at the Milimani Law Courts, Oyamo gave a detailed account of his interactions with Sharon on the evening she was killed, distancing himself from the crime and rejecting the prosecution's theory of his involvement.
Prosecution alleges Oyamo planned the murder in the house of Obado's aide and lured the late 26-year-old Rongo University student Otieno to her death in a hotel in Rongo Oyamo told the court that on September 3, 2018, he met Sharon and a journalist, referred to in court proceedings as XYZ, at Gracias Hotel in Rongo Town, where Sharon was drinking Penasol wine. "I found Sharon and XYZ seated and drinking.
There were two glasses on the table.
They were drinking Penasol wine," Oyamo testified, recalling the last moments with Otieno before she was killed that night. "I even quarrelled with XYZ why he had allowed a pregnant woman to consume alcohol." Oyamo said he had initially arranged to meet Sharon and the journalist at Trit House Hotel, but the venue was changed when Sharon insisted on meeting at Gracias Hotel, which she said belonged to a relative. "I took a matatu from Migori, then a bodaboda from Trit House to Gracias Hotel," Oyamo explained, adding that he chose the unconventional mode of transport to avoid delays caused by road construction.
