A protected journalist, a taxi driver, Sharon Otieno's close friend and her mother provided the evidence that ultimately convinced the court that former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, his former personal assistant Michael Oyamo and former county employee Caspal Obiero acted together in the murder of the university student.
Their testimony formed the backbone of a trial that lasted seven years and 10 months, during which prosecutors presented 42 witnesses to explain the events leading to Sharon's abduction and killing.
Although many people took the stand, Justice Cecilia Githua found that a few witnesses gave the most compelling evidence linking the three accused to a carefully planned plot that ended with Sharon's death.
The court ruled that the prosecution had proved the existence of a coordinated scheme involving Obado, Oyamo, Obiero and other people who were never charged. Justice Githua found that the meeting held at Graca Hotel on September 3, 2018, was not intended to deliver a message from Obado to Sharon as claimed by Oyamo, but was instead where Sharon and the protected witness identified as XYZ were handed over to the people who later carried out the murder.
"I strongly take the view that the meeting at Graca Hotel was not to convey a message from Obado to Sharon and XYZ but to hand over the two to Sharon's killers," Justice Githua ruled.
XYZ, a journalist investigating Sharon's relationship with Obado, testified that Oyamo organised the meeting at Graca Hotel before asking him and Sharon to relocate so that he could pass on a message from the former governor.
The pair boarded a taxi driven by Jackson Otieno Gombe and travelled towards Homa Bay before two men joined them during the journey.
The witness told the court that the two men later abducted both him and Sharon. He escaped after jumping from the moving vehicle, but Sharon was taken away before she was raped and murdered.
His testimony was supported by Gombe, who said he saw Oyamo at Graca Hotel before watching him leave and board another vehicle driven by Obiero near a petrol station.
Lawyers for the accused pointed to differences in the witnesses' accounts, including where Oyamo entered the vehicle and the colour of the car. However, the court found that the inconsistencies did not affect the main evidence presented by the prosecution.
"The contradictions related to whether Oyamo boarded the vehicle at the hotel or the colour of the vehicle related to peripheral matters and did not go to the root of the prosecution's evidence," Justice Githua said.
The judge said she carefully observed the witnesses while they testified and found that they remained clear and consistent. She also accepted Gombe's explanation that differences between his evidence and his police statement resulted from the way investigators recorded his account and not because he intended to mislead the court.
"I am satisfied from the evidence of XYZ and the taxi driver that Oyamo was present at the hotel and near the unidentified men who abducted, sexually assaulted and eventually killed Sharon."
Justice Githua also dismissed Oyamo's account of how he travelled after leaving the hotel, saying his explanation that he used a matatu and later a boda boda before returning to the governor's office was not believable and left important questions unanswered.
The court heard that Sharon's difficulties had started months before she was killed.
Her friend Lawrence Mullah testified that between March and May 2018, Sharon told him she had travelled to Nairobi to meet Obado, where the former governor allegedly told her he was not prepared for the pregnancy and urged her to terminate it.
Mullah further testified that Obado gave Sharon Sh30,000 for the abortion and directed that all communication about the pregnancy be handled through Oyamo.
XYZ also told the court that Sharon had shared photographs showing her with Obado, screenshots of their conversations and audio recordings of telephone calls between them.
In one of the recordings, Obado allegedly pleaded with Sharon to stop posting photographs of them together on social media, especially images taken at hotels they had visited.
Another recording allegedly captured him urging Sharon to procure an abortion because time was running out.
The journalist also testified that Sharon became increasingly distressed after Obado stopped answering her calls and cut off financial support.
Prosecutors also relied on evidence of an earlier trip made by Sharon and XYZ to Nairobi after they were promised a meeting with Obado at Sagret Hotel.
The meeting never happened. Instead, Sharon received Sh22,000 through a hotel receptionist before returning to Homa Bay disappointed and worried.
"This was not a benign engagement, but part of a pattern of control, delay and deception, culminating in the events of September 3, 2018," prosecutors submitted.
Justice Githua agreed with that assessment, finding that Obado stood to gain the most if Sharon was prevented from making her pregnancy public.
"There is no doubt that the first accused would have been the ultimate beneficiary of such a plot as he was likely to suffer public embarrassment had the story gone public," she ruled.
The court also found that investigators uncovered evidence suggesting there had been attempts to create a false alibi after Sharon disappeared.
"The evidence shows that Sharon Otieno's pregnancy and engagement with XYZ posed a real and imminent threat to the first accused's public standing. Sharon had already engaged the media. XYZ was actively pursuing the story. The removal of Sharon and the silencing of XYZ directly served the interests of one person: the first accused," Justice Githua said.