Nearly eight years after his daughter Sharon Otieno was brutally killed, her father Douglas Otieno stood before the High Court in Nairobi on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, carrying two very different emotions, a measure of calm towards former Migori Governor Zachary Okoth Obado, but deep anger towards the two men who, he said, were the last people to meet his daughter.
Douglas told Justice Cecilia Githua that his feelings towards Obado had eased after the former governor sent his relatives and brothers to his home seeking reconciliation following the judgment delivered in July.
“For today, the main agenda here is about Zachary Obado. After the judgment you gave, madam, he sent his relatives and brothers to my place for a reconciliatory part; that’s why I have calmed down to this end,” he told the judge.
The father said the reconciliation effort had changed how he viewed the sentence Obado should receive, adding that he would accept a non-custodial punishment if that was what the court decided.
“If the court can give them a non-custodial sentence, that shall be okay with me,” he said.
But the same calm did not extend to Obado’s co-accused, Michael Juma Oyamo and Caspal Ojwang Obiero.
Douglas said seeing the two men in court brought back the anger he has carried since Sharon’s death, pointing to their alleged roles in the events that ended with his daughter being killed.
“But I’m too bitter in this court today seeing Oyamo there and Caspal,” he said.
“These are the two people who met my daughter last, one giving his vehicle, the other one doing the challenges until they killed my daughter,” he told the court.
The pain of losing Sharon was also clear as Douglas spoke about the manner in which his daughter died.
“I’m too bitter about that Madam Justice, if I could be dog today, I could bite them and nurse them down to the point that I could leak their blood, the same way they leaked my daughters blood in the wilderness,” he said.
His emotional testimony came as the three men returned to court for sentencing, following their conviction over the murder of Sharon and her unborn child.
However, the court postponed the sentencing ruling to November 27, following the completion of the submissions from all parties.
Justice Cecelia Waithaya Githua said it had considered submissions made by the parties, including views presented by secondary victims affected by the case.
Sharon, a 26-year-old Rongo University student, was abducted on September 3, 2018, alongside Nation journalist Barack Oduor after the two went to meet a source at Graca Hotel in Rongo, Migori County.
Oduor managed to escape from the abductors by jumping from a moving vehicle near Nyangweso Market along the Homa Bay-Kisumu road.
Sharon was later found dead in a thicket in Kodera Forest, Homa Bay County, on September 4, 2018. She was seven months pregnant at the time.
Her death led to investigations and the eventual prosecution of Obado, his former personal assistant Oyamo and former Migori County clerk Obiero.
The case remained in court for years before Justice Cecilia Githua delivered the judgment on July 23, 2026, finding all three men guilty of murder after ruling that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court found that the evidence presented established an unbroken chain linking the three men to Sharon’s killing.
It further found that Oyamo played a role in arranging the meeting that came before Sharon’s abduction, while Obiero was found to have taken part in the events that led to the murder.
With sentencing now underway, Sharon’s parents returned to court to speak about the lasting impact of losing their daughter.
The proceedings were, however, adjourned after Sharon’s parents asked to address the court in Dholuo. The High Court then sought an interpreter before the hearing could proceed.
The court is expected to give further directions once arrangements for the interpreter have been made.