Kenyans angry as Sharon Otieno's mum begs Nairobi court to spare ex-governor Okoth Obado jail time

Kenyans have been angered after the mother of murdered university student Sharon Otieno pleaded with the court to allow her daughter's killer to walk free.

Melida Auma stood before a High Court in Nairobi court making an emotional plea to Justice Cecilia Githua.

Her request, laced with biblical verses on forgiveness, stunned many. She asked the judge to spare former Migori Governor Okoth Obado a life or death sentence.

"Don't crucify Obado in this case," Auma told the court. She said her family has chosen to forgive him.

Her reasoning was that Sharon had left behind three children who needed to be cared for.

Auma says she's struggled to raise them alone and believes a non-custodial sentence would let Obado help.

Sharon's father, Douglas Otieno, also spoke revealing Obado's relatives had visited his home after the guilty verdict in what he said was a reconciliation attempt.

"Because of his remorse, a non-custodial sentence is okay," Douglas told the court. But he admitted he still feels bitter towards Obado's two co-accused, Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero.

Online, Kenyans were not moved.

Many said the family's pain does not erase the horror of what happened to Sharon. She was pregnant when she was murdered in 2018.

Her body was found in a bush in Oyugis, Homa Bay County. She had multiple stab wounds.

Kenyans argued that no parent should ask for leniency after such a gruesome killing. Some pointed out that a child's suffering is something only a parent can truly understand.

They quoted an old Swahili saying: "Uchungu wa mwana aujuae ni mzazi."

Loosely translated, it means only a parent knows the pain of losing a child. Many said Auma's plea contradicted that very saying.

Critics online said justice for Sharon should not be negotiable, no matter how the family feels now.

Meanwhile, the Director of Public Prosecutions is pushing the opposite direction entirely.

Senior assistant DPP Gikui Gichuhi wants the harshest punishment allowed by law.

She urged the court to consider the death penalty for Obado, Oyamo, and Obiero under Section 204 of the Penal Code.

Gichuhi acknowledged the family's forgiveness. But she said it cannot override the crime.

"Reconciliation may bring peace to a family; it cannot erase the aggravating circumstances in which a life was unlawfully and deliberately taken," she told the court.

Justice Githua has now retired to consider all submissions. She'll deliver her sentencing ruling on November 27, at the Milimani Law Courts.

The delay, she explained, is due to the judiciary's annual leave period, which begins Thursday, September 17.