UPDATE: SUSPECTS IN KENYA COURT OVER MURDER OF UGANDAN ATHLETE, KIPLAGAT
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Agency Report
Tuesday saw the appearance of two suspects in a Kenyan court regarding the death of Olympic athlete Benjamin Kiplagat from Uganda, who was discovered dead over the weekend from a neck knife wound.
A magistrate’s court in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret ordered the two men to be held for 21 days so that police could finish their investigations into the steeplechase runner’s death, who happened to be 34 years old.
The suspects, who were named as 25-year-old David Ekhai Lokere (also known as Timo) and 30-year-old Peter Ushuru Khalumi in court documents, were taken into custody on Monday.
Early on Sunday morning, Kiplagat’s body was found with a stab wound to his neck on a road outside of Eldoret.
Police added that investigations had proven that Kiplagat had been “waylaid” by the two men prior to him hitting their motorbike with his car, even if the reason for the killing was still unknown.
Local police chief Stephen Okal told AFP on Monday that “the two suspects are known criminals who have been terrorising members of the public.”
Kiplagat, a Kenyan by birth, competed in the 3,000-metre steeplechase for Uganda on the international stage, representing the country at three Olympic Games and six World Championships.
In the 3,000-metre steeplechase, he took home the silver medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships and the bronze medal at the 2012 Africa Championships.
He competed in Rio in 2016 and advanced to the event’s semi-finals at the London Olympics in 2012.
In a statement released on Monday, the Uganda Athletics Federation expressed its “deep sadness and grief” over Kiplagat’s passing.
It comes after the murder of Kenyan distance runner Agnes Tirop in October 2021. At the age of 25, she was discovered fatally stabbed in her house in Iten, a training centre close to Eldoret.
In November of last year, her husband, Ibrahim Rotich, went on trial for her murder. Just before the trial began, the 43-year-old, who has disputed the charge, was released on bond.
AFP
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