The villager who discovered the body of slain Rongo University College student Sharon Otieno wants police protection and counselling, the Sunday Standard reports.
Moses Ongili, a farmer from Ogero village in Homa Bay County, told the local daily that he is mentally disturbed and is still reeling in shock after stumbling on the horrifying remains of the 26-year-old student on Tuesday evening.
According to Ongili, he has not been the same since learning of the circumstances under which the woman whose body he discovered was murdered.
He does not trust strangers and fears they are the killers of Sharon Otieno coming after him for uncovering their trails.
When journalists visited him at his home, Ongili demanded a letter from the police that authorised him to speak.
“I need a letter from police which warrants my interview with you. We can only talk under the guard of police officers because I don’t know your intentions,” he was quoted.
When he finally agreed to recall the moment, Ongili said the cattle he was herding inside Wire Forest that evening led him to the body.
“It was around 3.30pm and a storm was brewing over the Homa Hills. So I was driving the cattle out of the forest towards home when those in the lead crowded at the spot where the body was,” he said.
He said he monitored from a distance to see if they had seen a prey animal or a snake but he could not see much since the area was bushy.
“I slowly tiptoed towards the scene to get a glimpse of what the attraction was,” said Ongili, adding, “It was ghastly. I felt my body freeze in shock. She lay naked facing down.”
Ongili said he quickly fled the scene out of fear that those behind the gruesome murder might still have been lurking in the area.
Along the way, he met a few village mates whom he informed of what he had seen.
“I then rushed home, tied my cattle and went to Oyugis Police Station where I recorded a statement. I returned to the scene with the police who took the body to Rachuonyo South Sub-county Hospital mortuary,” said Ongili.
According to Ongili, the discovery has left him psychologically tortured and he has not been able to sleep nor eat since Tuesday because he had never witnessed such a horrible scene in his entire life.
“I have neither slept well nor eaten since I found the body. It disturbs my mind and I need help,” he said.
He also requested not to have his photograph taken because it would aggravate the trauma he was undergoing.
Residents of Ogera village suspect Sharon was killed elsewhere before the body was dumped at the scene.
“We found her blood concentrated at a single spot where the body lay. She might have been killed elsewhere,” said Erick Ochieng’, a resident.
Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor has since established that Sharon died from excessive bleeding. A postmortem conducted on Friday revealed she was stabbed three times in the neck, four times in the back and once in the left side of the abdomen.
The attack also pierced the seven-month foetus she was carrying.
