DNA test proves Governor Okoth Obado was the father of Sharon Otieno’s unborn baby

Migori Governor Okoth Obado at a Milimani Court on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

The murder trial of Migori Governor Okoth Obado entered the third day yesterday, with a forensic analyst testifying that the county chief was the father of Sharon Otieno’s baby.

The expert, John Mungai, testified that DNA analysis of Sharon’s unborn baby matched that of Obado, confirming that he was the biological father of the child who was murdered alongside its mother in September 2018.

“We analysed DNA profiles generated from buccal swabs from Sharon Otieno, Okoth Obado, Michael Oyamo and the foetus. Our findings were that there were 99.99 more chances that Obado is the biological father of Sharon’s unborn child,” said Mungai.

He however testified that the people who might have raped Sharon before killing her are still out there since an analysis of the semen from two used condoms found at the scene of murder does not match DNA profiles of the three accused persons.

According to Mungai, they also tried to generate DNA profiles from outside the used condoms to establish if there were cells to help find the perpetrators but they were unsuccessful.

“DNA profiles generated from the condom semen was of unknown male origin. He is out there and not among the three accused. It was also not possible to find out whether the condom had been used on the victim since the condoms had been degraded from the outside,” he said.

Mungai testified that he was among a team of government chemists and forensic analysts who examined samples of items recovered from Sharon’s scene of murder.

Among the items they examined were Sharon’s blood stained trousers, jumper jacket, panties, brazier, shoes, condoms recovered at the scene, buccal swabs, fingernails, vaginal swabs, blood samples and buccal swabs from Obado and his personal assistant Oyamo.

He told the court that Sharon’s jumper jacket and trousers were heavily stained with blood, which made it impossible to determine who touched her clothes before the killing.

“It was not possible to identify and establish any touch DNA because the amount of blood in her clothes were quite a lot. The profiles however confirmed that the blood came from Sharon,” said Mungai.

Mungai was the third witness in the case where Obado, Oyamo and former Migori County Clerk Caspal Obiero are accused of killing Sharon who was seven months pregnant and her unborn baby on September 3, 2018 at Owade in Oyugis, Homa Bay County.

It also emerged that Sharon was flown to Nairobi less than 10 days before she was killed.

The journey to Nairobi from Kisumu happened just a day after one of the protected witnesses received Sh22,210 from and unknown person and accompanied the deceased during the flight.

Veronica Wangeci testified that on August 23, 2018, she was on night duty at Sagret Hotel where she worked as a receptionist when a man approached him seeking M-pesa mobile money services.

“The person did not have Safaricom line and requested me to use my line to send money to a number he gave me. I did not know him but I agreed to help him out of good faith. I deposited the money in my account and sent it to the protected witness,” said Wangeci.

The hearing continues today.