Nearly eight years after the brutal killing of Rongo University student Sharon Otieno, the High Court sitting in Nairobi has found former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, his former personal assistant Michael Juma Oyamo, and former county clerk Casper Ojwang Obiero guilty of murder.

Delivering her judgment on Thursday, High Court Judge Cecilia Githua declared that the prosecution had overwhelmingly proved its case beyond reasonable doubt through the testimony of 52 witnesses.

The court identified the secret relationship between Obado and Sharon, which resulted in her pregnancy, as the catalyst for the tragedy.

Lady Justice Githua detailed how Obado initially pressured Sharon to terminate the pregnancy, sent her Sh30,000 for an abortion, and withdrew financial support, only re-establishing contact when she threatened to go public.

Rejecting Obado’s defense as insincere, the judge characterized him as the ultimate beneficiary of Sharon’s death, ruling that while he was not physically present at the scene, he financed the deadly enterprise.

The court further detailed a calculated plot involving Obado’s co-defendants.

Michael Oyamo used fraudulent SIM cards and proxy money transfers to set up a meeting at Grasha Hotel, a meeting the judge ruled was never intended for dialogue, but rather a trap to hand Sharon over to her executioners.

Meanwhile, Casper Obiero coordinated the logistics that allowed the operation to take place. Finding that the trio acted in concert with uncharged co-conspirators, Justice Githua convicted all three men, bringing a conclusion to one of Kenya’s most high-profile murder trials.