- Oyamo is being tried over Sharon and her unborn baby's murder that took place on 3 September 2018 in Homa Bay County.
- Oyamo said the call data records from Airtel cannot be relied on as they are not a true reflection of what earlier witnesses in the case have said.
Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado’s assistant Michael Oyamo has disputed call data records from Airtel being used by the prosecution to prove his alleged involvement in the murder of late Rongo University student Sharon Otieno.
Oyamo is being tried over Sharon and her unborn baby's murder that took place on 3 September 2018 in Homa Bay County.
He has been charged alongside Obado and clerk Caspal Obiero.
Through his Advocate Ogada Meso, Oyamo said the call data records from Airtel cannot be relied on as they are not a true reflection of what earlier witnesses in the case have said.
The records were presented in court by one Vincent Mabu.
Mabu identified himself as the liaison officer and investigations manager for the telecommunication service provider.
He told trial Judge Cecilia Githua that on 10 September 2018, he received a letter from the DCI requesting identity and service numbers for three numbers 0735689713, 0739473321 and 0734333587.4
He was also requested to share details of incoming and outgoing calls for the 3 numbers and details of their physical locations.
One of the numbers that piqued the interest of the defence was 0739473321.
From the Airtel records, the account holder of this number is registered as Vincnet Obonyo. It was registered on 27 August 2018.
But an earlier witness who was under protection testified that the said number called him on 29 August 2018 at 1530hrs.
The person who called introduced himself as Michael Oyamo. Oyamo allegedly told him that if he ever wanted to reach him, he should do so on that line.
However, this information was not captured in the Airtel call records.
The witness from Airtel was not able to trace this particular call log.
It is for that reason that the advocate said the records cannot be relied on.
“If the protected witness is a truthful witness that information must be in the Airtel data. Either the system you are using or the witness is a liar,” said Ogada.
But from the same data records, the number that Oyamo allegedly used to call the protected witness was in communication with a number registered in Sharon's name a day before.
That is on 28 August. The communication took place between 1630 and 1823 hours.
And on 3rd September 2018 at 1918hrs,(the day Sharon is said to have been murdered) there was a voice call coming from her line made to that number registered under Vincent that Oyamo was allegedly using.
The call lasted 17 seconds. The location was Rongo. Still, on the same day, several messages were being exchanged between the two from 1828hrs to around 1856hrs.
The case has been proceeding for hearing since Tuesday.
It was to go all the way to Friday but the prosecution after Mabu concluded his testimony sought an adjournment.
Lead Prosecutor Gikui Gichuhi told the trial Judge that they remained with three more witnesses before they closed their case. All are police officers.
“We had expected Hassan from Homa Bay who was the Investigating Officer when the case began. He had had most of the exhibits and groundwork details of this case,” said Gichuhi.
“Unfortunately, we are not able to produce him in court today and we do not foresee ourselves producing him in court either tomorrow or Friday. He is currently in Mandera. He has been on sick leave for the better part of this year,” she said.
She sought an adjournment saying his testimony would be approximately 3 days.
He will be followed by Chief Inspector Ole Sena who will be analyzing the data presented by safaricom and finally Chief Inspector Clement Mwangi who is the lead Investigating officer in the matter.
The defence didn't object to the adjournment but said it’s not true that it would not prejudice the accused persons as they have a right to have their trial heard and done so expeditiously.
The case will be mentioned on Friday for parties to take new hearing dates.