Detective recreates scenes of Sharon abduction, murder
Bernice Mbugua @BerniceMuhindi
A prosecution witness yesterday recounted how she recovered two used condoms, condom wrappers and an alcohol wrapper at the scene where university student Sharon Otieno and her unborn baby were murdered in September 2018.
The items, the court heard, were recovered at Kodera forest, near Oyugis township, by Inspector Mary Mugire from Oyugis police station and handed over to Chief Inspector Lilian Saka, a Scene of Crime Officer from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Saka, who was the second prosecution witness to testify in the murder case, tabled in court more than 200 photos she took at the crime scene, the mortuary and Graca Hotel where Sharon was allegedly kidnapped from after meeting Migori Governor Okoth Obado’s personal assistant Michael Oyamo and a witness, who is in protective custody.
Obado, Oyamo and Casper Obiero, a clerk at the Migori County government, have been charged with the murder of Sharon, then a 26-year-old Rongo University second year student and her unborn child in September 2018.
Obado’s eyes
Yesterday, Obado’s eyes remained fixated on the big screen mounted in the makeshift courtroom as the prosecution displayed the photos taken from the murder scene, the hotel where Sharon was allegedly handed over to her killers and the spot where the witness under protective custody jumped off the kidnappers’ speeding motor vehicle.
Occasionally, the governor would glance at the witness as she recreated the crime scene, a departure from the first day of the hearing on Monday when he spent the better part of the proceedings on his phone.
Oyamo and Obiero, like Obado, also followed the proceedings pensively, almost absent-mindedly.
And for the second day running, Sharon’s father Douglas Otieno, was in court, keenly following the proceedings.
Hand on chin, Otieno gazed at the screen as the witness displayed various items collected from the scene where his first-born daughter was brutally murdered three years ago in a crime that shocked the country.
The witness also displayed photos she took at Lela on the main Homa Bay-Rongo road where the witness in protective custody jumped off the kidnappers’ speeding vehicle.
The detective showed photos of a thicket where Sharon’s body was found and the exact spot where it lay.
“The flagged areas showed disturbed vegetation, a pool of blood, some shoe impressions, a torn condom wrapper and a bottle top,” she told the court.
She added: “I was still being guided by Inspector Mary Mugire and officers from Oyugis who were the first responders. The homicide team was present and DCI Homa Bay was also present.”
Saka said when she arrived at Oyugis police station, she took photographs of all the items which had been recovered at the scene where Sharon’s body was found.
They included stained Adidas trousers, a stained jacket, a flowered bra, blue open shoes, two used condoms, condom wrappers and an alcohol wrapper.
“These items were provided to me by Inspector Mary Mugire who recovered them from the crime scene,” she told the court.
On September 8, 2018, she proceeded to Rachuonyo District Hospital mortuary for the postmortem on Sharon’s body and took a total of 105 photographs.
“I was accompanied by an officer from Homa Bay, Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor and another pathologist and family representatives… my role was to document the postmortem process,” she told the court.
On September 9, 2018, in the company of homicide detectives and officers from Oyugis police station, she proceeded to Graca Hotel under the guidance of a witness who is under protective custody.
It is at this hotel where Sharon, in the company of the witness under protective custody, met Oyamo, who would allegedly hand them over to her eventual killers.
Here, she took 33 photos of the hotel including the entrance, the spot in the hotel where Sharon and the witness allegedly sat, a general photograph showing the gents toilet which Oyamo allegedly visited before they left the hotel with the deceased and the CCTV cameras at the hotel.
From the hotel, Saka told the court that she and the witness proceeded to the scene where the latter allegedly jumped off the kidnappers’ vehicle as it sped towards an unknown destination.
“I was in the company of detectives from Homa Bay, officers from Oyugis police station, homicide detectives and the witness whom we were with at Graca Hotel. I took a total of 17 photographs,” the court heard.
Three photos showed the main Homa Bay-Rongo road, with two other photographs showing measurements of the distance from the edge of the road to a homestead where the witness sought refuge after escaping from the kidnappers.
She also showed a photo of Kadel police post where the witness reported his kidnapping.
The detective also took eight photos of Rachuonyo North sub-county hospital where the witness sought treatment after escaping from the kidnappers.
Cross-examination
Saka told the court that on September 18, 2018, she was called to Oyugis police station to document a recovered motor vehicle that had been allegedly used in Sharon’s murder.
“I was called by Nyabuto, I travelled to Oyugis on September 18. On September 19, I documented the motor vehicle at Oyugis police station… I took 27 photos,” she told the court.
She took photos of the motor vehicle and its registration number, the driver’s seat, items recovered from the compartment which included a police abstract, Migori taxi driver’s group card and a chewing gum wrapper.
Asked during cross-examination by Obado’s lawyer Kioko Kilukumi whether she did a cast on the shoe impression she recovered at the scene, Saka said she did not as it was not clear.
The detective also confirmed that they did not take fingerprints from the condom wrapper found at the murder scene.
“There was an attempt but it was not documented as it was too small to take fingerprints,” she answered. She also said that she would not know whether they recovered the CCTV footage from Graca Hotel as that was not her role.
Lawyer Tom Ojienda, representing Oyamo, asked whether she was able to extract footprints and whether there were tyre prints at Kodera forest which she answered in the negative.
She also confirmed there was no trace of blood in the motor vehicle which was allegedly used during the kidnap.
The hearing continues today.
