Migori Governor Okoth Obado on Wednesday scored big in court following successful application against Sharon Otieno's family lawyer.
Governor Obado had moved to court through lawyers Rodgers Sagana and Kioko Kilukumi, pushing for the removal of Prof George Wajackoyah who was representing Sharon Otieno's family.
Justice Ngenye Macharia on Wednesday ruled that Prof Wajackoyah's presence in the case would infringe Obado's right to a fair trial.
Kilukumi said Wajackoyah told his client he had done a lot of consultancy work with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
“Wajackoyah showed me correspondence between himself and the two offices, and I was convinced that indeed he had good knowledge of criminal law practice. He further confirmed that the two offices nevertheless cleared him to represent me,” Obado said.
When Obado was arraigned in court last year over the murder of Sharon Otieno, Wajackoyah was one of many lawyers who turned up to represent him.
He was however excluded from defense team since many lawyers had turned up. He went on to shift allegiance to the prosecution, forcing Obado to make the application.
“The advocate took serious issue with the omission of his name from the quorum and informed me as much. In the subsequent court appearance, he came to court and introduced himself as the advocate for the victims. He continues to be on record for the victims to date,” Obado's affidavit read.
Obado's defense had also argued that Prof Wajackoyah had a conflict of interest in the case thus the need to force him out.
“It’s our contention that Wajackoyah can’t represent two parties in a dispute whose positions are in conflict. That would be considered misconduct requiring disciplinary action. We urge you to hold and find that Wajackoyah had a conflict of interest and will be unsuitable to appear before you,” Kilukumi said.