- Sagana, in comparing the accounts of the two crucial witnesses, said one of them was lying.
- He said it was not possible that two people who were on board the same vehicle could have contrasting accounts of what happened on the fateful day.
Image: COURTESY
A taxi driver who allegedly ferried the late Sharon Otieno to Kodera forest where she met her death has cast doubts on the evidence of the key witness in the trial.
Defence Counsels Kioko Kilukumi and Rodgers Sagana took Jackson Gombe through his statement and that of a journalist who was on board the same vehicle on the fateful date.
The journalist is the star witness in the case.
He has already testified against former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, his Personal Assistant Michael Oyamo and clerk Caspal Obiero who are being tried over the murder of Sharon and her unborn baby that took place on September 3, 2018, in Homa Bay County.
Sagana, in comparing the accounts of the two crucial witnesses, said one of them was lying.
He said it was not possible that two people who were on board the same vehicle could have contrasting accounts of what happened on the fateful day.
Gombe in his evidence said he carried Sharon, the journalist and other men in his vehicle on the fateful day.
He had picked them up from Graca Hotel after Oyamo held a meeting with Sharon and the journalist.
His account was that Sharon had covered herself with a black shawl but the testimony of the journalist reflects that Sharon was in a pink suit.
Sagana, in trying to establish who among the two witnesses was telling the truth, prodded Gombe to state what transpired minutes before the journalist managed to jump out of his vehicle for fear of his life.
The journalist had told the court that Sharon, who was seated in the back seat, screamed out loud when the strange men were strangling him. She would cry out loud telling the men “please forgive me”.
But the taxi driver told trial Judge Cecilia Githua all that was new to him. He said he did not hear Sharon scream, cry or utter such words.
He said all he recalled was the wind blowing into the car and the sound of something dropping.
This ‘something’ in the prosecution’s case is the journalist escaping from the vehicle that allegedly abducted him and Sharon.
“I slowed down when I heard that thing fall and asked if all was well and was told it was. To date, I don't know what fell,” said Gombe
The vehicle had six passengers in total among them the driver, Sharon, the journalist and three strange men.
One of the men was seated in the front seat of a co-driver. Sharon and the journalist were sitting in between the other two men at the back left.
Gombe claimed that the reason he didn’t hear any commotion in the back seat was because music was playing in the background.
“If the Journalist would say he was in the car and no music was playing, would that be true or false?” asked Sagana “False” said Gombe.
The journalist had also said in his evidence that the driver of that car knew where he was going and he was part of the killers.
Gombe dismissed it as lies.