The brutal killing of a 26-year-old pregnant university student early this month after she was abducted with a journalist in an attempt to expose her love affair with a Kenyan governor has reached a crescendo after the arrest of the top politician.
Following protests and call for Justice for Miss Sharon Otieno, the governor of the Migori County, Okoth Obado, was arrested with his two assistants on charges of aiding and abetting the commission of murder and murder respectively.
DPP Noordin Haji press statement into investigations of alleged abduction and murder of Rongo University student Sharon Belyne Otieno #SharonOtienoProsecution #Murder_ODPP pic.twitter.com/Sc3umLbS9P
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— ODPP_KE (@ODPP_KE) September 23, 2018
Expected in court on Monday, the governor who was arrested on Friday admitted to having a love affair with the pregnant student but distanced himself from the murder, reports local media Daily Nation.
In a shocking turn of events, a counter-protest was held in the streets of the County demanding the release of the governor and claiming that the murder charge was politically instigated.
The body of the Rongo University student, Sharon Otieno, was found in a forest in Homa Bay a day after the Nation Newspaper journalist Barack Oduor who was abducted with her had reported their abduction to the police after his escape.
Oduor, who had bruises on his knees and hands told journalists at the Kisumu Central Police Station that the second year student had alleged that she had been impregnated by the governor of the Migori County, Okoth Obado.
The journalist and the student had arranged a meeting with the aide of the governor, identified as Michael Oyamo, and the venue was changed twice.
“When we got out of the hotel, he told us to board his vehicle so we could move to a different hotel within Rongo town. He was with the driver and a co-driver,” Oduor was quoted by The Standard.
He said the car drove to a different town and made a stop to pick two other men. “We sat in the middle. One man was in the far left and the other far right seat. They ordered us to surrender our phones and all property we had. That is when I knew we had been abducted,” he added.
Oduor explained that while the car was speeding, the abductors strangled him and he successfully opened the door and jumped after struggling with them. With his injuries, he sought help from a nearby house and he was taken to the Kadel Police Post Monday night and then to a hospital.
“I suspect I was kidnapped to prevent publication of the story,” Oduor added while at the police station where other journalists had camped in solidarity and for justice to be served.
The Kenyan government stated on Wednesday morning after the student’s body was found that the circumstances “distinctly point to murder” and attempted murder of the journalist.
“…this matter will be expeditiously investigated and the perpetrators of this heinous crime will be made to face the full force of the law,” they assured the public and journalists whose network has described the incident as an attack on press freedom.
