Laboratory tests failed to establish whether two used condoms collected at the scene where Sharon Otieno's body was found were used on her.
Government analyst John Kimani Mungai told Justice Cecilia Githua that the tests failed because the DNA cells were damaged. He had tried to generate DNA profiles from the outside of the used condoms but this did not work.
The other possible reason was that the semen inside the condom could have spilled over, mixing with the outside of the condom masking the DNA and making it difficult to connect with the vaginal swabs obtained from Sharon.
“Inside a used condom there is semen which contains sperm cells. If it is too much and spills over, it will mask DNA on the outside of the condom. This means during analysis it would be a problem generating a DNA profile,” he said.
Mungai said the quality was low as there is a certain threshold for obtaining a DNA profile.
The analyst with 30 years experience told the court that on September 11, 2018, he received a number of items at the Government Chemist that required him to determine the presence of any genetic material and its relationship.
Items received included a pair of long trousers, jumper jacket, panty, bra, open shoes, three unused condoms, two used condoms, two condom wrappings, buccal swabs from Sharon, her finger nails, vaginal swab and fingernails from the foetus.
The jacket and pair of trousers were heavily stained with blood. The open shoes and bra were moderately stained with blood but the cream panty was neither stained with blood nor semen.
Other items were the DNA samples of accused persons Micheal Oyuma and Migori Governor Okoth Obado.
DNA profiles generated from the swabs revealed 99.9 per cent chances that Obado was the biological father of the unborn 28-week-old male child carried by Sharon.
Mungai is the prosecution's third witness. He was testifying against Obado who is the first accused in the murder of Sharon and her unborn male baby. Also charged are Obado’s aides - Oyamo and Caspal Obiero. The three are accused of committing the act on the night of September 3, 2018, at Owade in Homa Bay county.
But yesterday’s testimony by Mungai absolved Obado and his co-accused in that the DNA profile generated from the semen was of an unknown male.
An earlier witness, crime scene officer Lillian Saka, had told the court that before Sharon and her unborn baby were murdered in cold blood, she was kidnapped from Graca Hotel and possibly raped.
Yesterday’s proceedings also saw a businesswoman take to the stand to testify against Obado. Veronica Wangechi used to work as a receptionist at Sagret Hotel, Nairobi, on night shift.
On August 23, 2018, she received a client requesting for M-Pesa transactions. Wangechi did not identify who the client was. She told the trial judge that the hotel used to offer M-Pesa services and that the client asked her to transact Sh22,500 on his behalf because he did not have a Safaricom line.
“I agreed to help him out of good faith. I sent Sh22,300 to a number given to me by the client,” Wangechi said.
The number belonged to one of the key witnesses under witness protection.
The following day, a flight was paid for from Kisumu to Nairobi. It did not come out who exactly paid for the flight but Alex Omamo, head of security at Fy540, identified the boarding passes of Sharon and the witness under protection. Omamo is the state's fifth witness.
Sharon and the witness under protection were flying from Kisumu to Nairobi at 730am. She sat on seat 7C and the witness sat on 7D.
The hearing continues Thursday.
Edited by Henry Makori