A taxi driver on Thursday narrated to a Nairobi court how he allegedly ferried Sharon Otieno and her abductors to a thicket in Owade, Homa Bay, where she met her death.
Jackson Otieno Gombe was initially under witness protection for three years. He opted out of the programme on his own volition but on Thursday the prosecution attempted to have him testify in camera, saying he was apprehensive of his security.
But the defense team, led by senior counsel Kioko Kilukumi, objected saying reasons availed by the state are assertions not backed by any evidence.
Trial judge Cecilia Githua subsequently declined the prosecution's plea, saying she was not satisfied that sufficient reasons had been advanced to have the witness testify in camera and ordered the case proceeds in open.
Gombe told the court that on the fateful day, he was driving a taxi owned by one of the accused person's wife. The woman, he said, goes by the name Olivia.
She is reportedly the wife is Caspal Obiero. Caspal, a former clerk in Migori county was charged alongside former Governor Okoth Obado, and his PA Michael Oyamo over the death of Sharon and her unborn baby.
The murder is said to have occurred on September 3, 2018. Gombe said he was driving a grey Toyota Fielder when he picked Sharon, a journalist and other men at Graca hotel in Rongo.
But earlier accounts have given a different vehicle with a different registration number.
Gombe, a resident of Migori, said on September 3, he left his house and proceeded to a nearby car wash.
On that day he was to take the car for valuation. He said he needed the car's logbook and so he went to see his boss, Olivia. At her home he said he found two cars parked outside the gate.
One belonging to Oyamo and the other to a man only identified as Dickens.
"Inside the compound, I saw three people, Obiero, Oyamo and Dickson. I just greeted them and proceeded to ask Olivia for the logbook and left, " the witness said. At around 5.45pm, Gombe said he received a phone call from one Elvis.
Elvis told him to go to Uriri at 6pm and pick Oyamo. At Uriri, Gombe found Oyamo in the company of other men.
He told Oyamo he was the taxi man who had been sent by Elvis.
Oyamo and the other men boarded the vehicle. Destination was Graca hotel in Rongo.
The distance from Uriri to Rongo is about 30 to 40 minutes.
When they got to Graca, Oyamo and one of the unidentified men alighted. The other two remained behind.
Oyamo went inside the hotel and after 20 minutes he came back with a woman and another man. Previous witnesses placed Sharon and a journalist who managed to escape at the Graca hotel scene.
Gombe told the court that Sharon and the journalist entered the vehicle.
They sat behind.
The other three men also boarded. One was seated with the driver and the other two in between Sharon and the journalist.
Oyamo was left at Graca.
The vehicle left the hotel and made a stop at a petrol station.
They left the station and Gombe was instructed by one of the men to head to Kisumu.
But they did not get to Kisumu.
The driver said he could overhear a conversation between his passengers.
One of the men he said asked "How do you know him?". He said he did not know who the question was being directed to but it was a male voice.
He said Sharon responded saying, "Just a friend".
"I heard another voice asking, and how do you know the governor?," to which the woman responded, saying they knew each other from a ceremony at Rongo University.
The witness told judge Githua that he later turned the volume of his car up to give his passengers privacy. At Olare Centre, he said he felt the move of the wind, as if the car door had been opened.
The car was being driven at 60kph, he said.
"I slowed down and asked what was wrong, but the men told me 'achana na hii fala' (leave this idiot alone)." It's at this juncture that the journalist could have jumped out of the vehicle as has been stated by earlier witnesses.
But Gombe did not give details, neither describe whether he saw someone escape but only said he felt the wind move.
The men in the vehicle, he said, told him to take a murram road to Oyugis town until they reached a thicket in Homa Bay.
He was asked to switch off the car lights and turn off the engine. The men left the car with Sharon and he remained put, he said.
He did not talk about Sharon's demeanour at this particular juncture but only stated that he was asked to wait.
"Tusubiri kidogo tunarudi," (wait for us for a minute we are coming back), the men with Sharon said.
After 20 minutes he heard someone knock on his car asking "Kwani umelala?".
He unlocked the car, and the men got in. He asked them where the woman was and they said "we left her at her home".
The prosecutor in the case asked the witness what happened to the journalist to which he said he does not know.
The matter was adjourned to Friday when the defense counsels are expected to cross-examine the witness.