Obado trial: Court told of reporter’s lucky escape
A taxi driver yesterday narrated to court how a journalist who is the key witness in the Sharon Otieno’s murder case escaped from his abductors and ran into his homestead seeking refuge.
Kennedy Onyango Kasera narrated to the court the events surrounding September 3, 2018 at 8.30pm when the journalist who had allegedly been kidnapped alongside Sharon Otieno burst into his house screaming.
Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado is charged alongside his personal assistant Michael Oyamo and Casper Obiero, a clerk in Migori county with the murder case of the Rongo University Student Sharon Otieno and her unborn child.
Kasera while testifying in the case yesterday told the court that on the night of September 3, 2018 he was with his family in the house when he saw someone entering his home.
Managed to escape
The court heard that his security lights turned on when the said person came running into his homestead screaming.
“I heard somebody screaming, I told my son to open the door and we saw someone entering my house. He went straight to my bedroom...he was breathing fast (alikuwa anahema hema hivi) my son was afraid so he ran and hid in the store,’ he testified
According to Kasera, the said intruder identified himself as a journalist and said that he was kidnapped together with another lady but he managed to escape.
“I had to be courageous because my wife had also run away following the incident,” he said.
Kasera told Justice Cecelia Githua that the journalist told him that the lady had been impregnated by a governor and they were meeting with his personal assistant.
He said the journalist told him that he escaped after getting a chance to.
Another witness who had been stood down before, yesterday failed to link two vehicles allegedly involved in the kidnapping of Sharon to the three accused persons.
The witness Baraqo Baji, who works for National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) had previously, been stood down after defence lawyers claimed they had not been supplied with a document which detailed the registration details of a motor vehicle believed to have been used during the abduction of the late Sharon Otieno.
The witness at the time worked under the registration department. He told Trial Judge Cecilia Githua that they had received a request letter from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) regarding the said vehicle and another KCF 519F.
DCI sought to know the current and past owners of the vehicle and any other relevant information.
From the NTSA record, the KCL was imported by one Saidi Kalu. The origin is Japan and was registered on April 28, 2017.
Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor who performed the post-mortem on Sharon and her unborn baby had previously testified that Sharon died due to severe bleeding due to penetrating force trauma.
The court heard that Sharon had seven stab wounds and two slash wounds on her body. “There was a slash wound below the left ear, it was horizontal and was 30 millimetres deep. Another slash wound parallel to the other one, measured 40 by 5 millimetres and 25 millimetres in depth.”
