This archive report was first published on 2 December 2019.
On December 2, 2019, the High Court in Kenya was set to determine whether a lawyer would continue representing the family of Sharon Otieno, a university student who was murdered in 2018.
Migori Governor Okoth Obado, who is one of the accused in the case, appeared in court with his lawyers, Kioko Kilukumi and Rodgers Sagana, and raised concerns about the representation of Sharon's family.
Obado accused lawyer George Wajackoyah of representing two parties with conflicting positions, claiming that Wajackoyah had obtained confidential information from him while he was in police custody and then acted for Sharon's family in court.
According to court documents, on September 23, 2018, Wajackoyah had sought and obtained instructions from Obado while he was in police custody at Gigiri Police Station.
Wajackoyah had convinced Obado that he was doing consultancy work for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and that he had been granted clearance to represent Obado in the case.
However, Wajackoyah disputed that he had only talked to Obado as a coincidence, as he was to meet another client whose name was not disclosed in court.
Obado's lawyers argued that if Wajackoyah was conflicted, his representation of Sharon's family would amount to misconduct and must be stopped.
“Comforted with knowledge that Prof Wajackoyah was cleared, the governor went ahead to give him instructions,” Obado's lawyers told the court.
The High Court will give its ruling on the matter of Wajackoyah on December 18, 2019.
