People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua has welcomed the conviction in the murder of Sharon Otieno but said the nearly eight-year wait for justice highlights the urgent need to speed up the handling of gender-based violence and femicide cases.

In a statement on Thursday July 23, 2026, following the court’s judgment, Karua said Sharon’s family had endured years of pain before finally receiving justice.

“It has taken seven years and 10 months, 42 prosecution witnesses, and 81 exhibits presented by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for justice for Sharon Otieno to finally arrive,” she said.

Immense cost of justice delayed

Karua noted that Sharon’s family was present in court to hear the verdict, saying the occasion underscored “the immense cost of justice delayed.

“While commending the prosecution for securing the conviction, she argued that justice should not take close to a decade to be delivered.”While we commend the prosecution, justice must not take nearly a decade,” she said.

The former Justice Minister also used the case to highlight what she described as the growing crisis of femicide in Kenya, saying women across the country continue to lose their lives to gender-based violence.

“Across Kenya, from young girls to grandmothers, women continue to be lost to a horrific wave of femicide,” Karua said.

She called on the National Police Service, the ODPP and the Judiciary to handle all cases involving violence against women with the same urgency and thoroughness demonstrated in Sharon’s case.

“Our police, ODPP, and courts must bring the same rigor, urgency, and commitment to every case, not only those that attract national attention. We must all do our part to end the killing of women,” she added.

Karua concluded her statement by urging Kenyans to unite in the fight against gender-based violence, using the hashtags #ActNowToEndGBV and #EndFemicideKE.

Otieno murder case

Sharon Otieno, a Rongo University student, was abducted and murdered in September 2018 while she was seven months pregnant.

Her killing sparked nationwide outrage and became one of Kenya’s most closely watched murder cases.

The High Court on Thursday, July 23, 2026 convicted the accused, bringing to a close a legal process that lasted nearly eight years.