The murder case of Sharon Otieno and her unborn baby which is suspected to be Governor Obado’s responsibility will finally get a proper investigation next week, the courts have ruled.
The judge has ordered two witnesses per day from now on since there are so many questions that must be answered after this tragedy happened.
The court has rescheduled the hearing for Governor Obado’s case to a later date, citing COVID-19 issues.
Lawyers for the defendant requested that court proceedings be delayed in order to minimize risk of injury and death.
“It’s not the intention of the accused persons to delay the matter and have no reason to delay the disposal of this matter,” the court heard.
Governor Obada’s lawyer cited the COVID-19 Delta variant as a reason to end his trial, but it is unclear how this will affect proceedings.
“The request is not a move to delay the case, we were simply drawing the attention of the court to a public risk if we were to violate the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health,” Kilukumi submitted.
A gazette notice from the president cited COVID 19 hotspots in Western Kenya, and Migori County was listed among them.
Tom Ojienda, a lawyer from the country of Uganda in Africa who is representing his client accused of murder, has been requesting for more than 30 days to be given as time between submitting this request and when they are heard. He states that he cannot have a physical hearing because there would not be enough space due to insufficient supply on resources such as desks with chairs or any other type of furniture necessary for these hearings which can take up quite some room depending on how many people will attend at once.
Tom Ojienda submitted that since it’s nearly impossible to hold an open “physical” trial process without all the items required being available where each individual attending could sit down comfortably outside their cramped cell within prison walls; then perhaps after thirty (
“For this hearing to proceed amidst a restriction that will compromise our physical engagement with our clients, we pray that you set aside slated for today,” Ojienda submitted.
The prosecution on its part, through lawyer Catherine Mwaniki vehemently opposed the application for adjournment. She argued that the matter has been in court too long and there is no evidence to show a Delta variant.
The Judge, much like the prosecutor and defense attorneys, seemed to have a headache with these proceedings. The three accused people are being charged for two murders in this case-and it’s possible that there will be more charges added soon enough.
Obado was charged alongside Juma Oyamo and Casper Obiero; the three are out on bond after pleading not guilty to the murder charges of Sharon Otieno and her unborn baby. The trial began in March last year but was adjourned due to COVID-19, which has resulted in a scaling down of court operations throughout Kenya.
