Condoms mystery takes centre stage in Obado murder trial

Police failed to test semen in condoms found at university student Sharon Otieno's murder scene thus bungling the arrest of the killers, a court has heard.

It emerged in court yesterday that police also failed to get fingerprints on the condoms and stored exhibits in brown envelops contrary to the law, which could have possibly erased significant details.

The revelations were made during the hearing of a murder case against Migori Governor Okoth Obado, his personal aides Micheal Oyamo and Caspal Obiero who are accused of killing Sharon and her unborn baby.

The three are accused of committing the crime on September 3, 2018, at Owade area in Homa Bay county.

Mary Mogire, who was at the time of incident deputy OCS Oyugis police station, testified yesterday.

Challenging her testimony defence lawyer Kioko Kilukumi asked Mogire if she knew the two used condoms could aid in locating the killers with precision.

"Did you check whether the condoms had semen?" Kilukumi asked.

"I'm not sure," Mogire said.

"Do you know you could get the actual criminals by employing science?" Kilukumi asked. 

"I do know,"Mogire said.

The officer also stated that she is not sure whether fingerprints were taken from the illicit brew found at the scene and neither was she sure if shoe prints were taken. 

Soil analysis was also not done.

Mogire said she had handed over the matter to the DCIO. 

Mogire was the senior most police officer to visit the scene where Sharon was found lying in a pool of blood.

She admitted that they could have employed science to get the actual criminals but it was not done. 

Mogire visited the scene of crime in the company of officer Sammy Mediki. 

She became aware of the incident after a member of the public by the name Moses Onditi made a report at Oyugis.

Onditi said he had seen a dead body at Owade while grazing his cows. He has testified as the prosecution's seventh witness. 

After Onditi made the report, Mogire was tasked by her boss to visit the scene and take necessary steps.

It took her 15 minutes to get there. The area is only 2kms away from Oyugis police station.

Mogire was in the company of the reportee -MosesOnditi and Mediki. When they arrived, Onditi took them to where the body was.

Sharon was lying face down in a pool of blood. Mogire told Trial Judge Cecilia Githua that she immediately called DCIO Julius Kaswai after she formed the opinion that the incident was a murder case.

Kaswai gave her the go ahead to remove the body from the scene since he was away. Mogire subsequently secured the area.

At this time, it was only Mediki and her. Onditi was ordered to step back. Before moving the body, they examined it and observed stab wounds on both the neck and stomach area.

The stab wound on the stomach caused Sharon's internal organs to hang out, she also had scratches on her back. 

The officers also discovered two used and three unused condoms, three empty condom sachets, two condom packets, a white bra, cream panty, blue open shoes, and an empty sachet of an illicit brew.

The officers collected the items and recorded an inventory. Mogire also mentioned it was drizzling at the time they got to the scene. All this was done on September 4.

Mediki photographed the scene with his Itel mobile phone and sent them to the DCIO through WhatsApp. Efforts to recover the murder weapon was unsuccessful.

Once they were done, they placed the body on a stretcher and took it to the police vehicle that had driven them there.

They asked the members of the public present at the scene whether they knew the deceased but none was able to identify the body. It was taken to Rachuonyo mortuary.

The DCIO came back at around 7pm and Mogire briefed him regarding the events of the day. On September 6, the homicide team from DCI headquarters took over the matter.

During cross-examination, it was revealed that the items collected which now form part of the exhibits before court were not packaged in accordance with the police standing orders. 

Mogire told the court that they placed the used and unused condoms in an A3  envelope.

"It's the usual envelope we buy from the stationery shops," she said.

"Is that the way to handle exhibits,?" Kilukumi asked.

"It depends whether you have been facilitated," Mogire said.

Kilukumi explained that going by police standing orders the exhibits should have been stored in a plastic bag. 

However,  the witness said the procedure was not followed because they did not have the materials. 

Mediki, who testified immediately after Mogire gave contradicting evidence saying all the items they picked including Sharon's clothes were not placed in one envelope.

He also mentioned that when they left the scene on September 4, it was unguarded until the time officers from DCI  headquarters came to reconstruct the scene on September 6.

The witness further indicated that though trained, he wasn't taught how to produce photographic evidence. That is why he just forwarded the photos he took to the DCIO to his WhatsApp number.

He then deleted the photos and no certification was done.

Asked by Lawyer Rogers Sagana how the specific photographs he took leaked to social media, Mediki said "maybe other members of the public who took the pictures before they arrived at the scene of crime".

"So why did you delete them if you are a trained police officer?" Sagana asked.

"Because my task was to capture and forward them," he said.

(Edited by Tabnacha O)