COURT FINDS TWO KENYAN MEN GUILTY OF OLYMPIAN KIPLAGAT’S MURDER
Read Time:1 Minute, 24 Second
On Monday, two Kenyan men were convicted guilty of murdering Ugandan Olympic distance runner Benjamin Kiplagat, who was discovered stabbed to death in the East African country’s north-west on New Year’s Eve.
Eldoret High Court convicted Peter Ushuru Khalumi and David Ekai Lokere of the 34-year-old Olympian’s murder following a nine-month trial in the Rift Valley town.
Judge Reuben Nyakundi said CCTV showed the men—wwho the court gave as 30 and 25 years old—cchasing the athlete as he drove to his house in Kimumu Estate on December 31 last year.
“Scientific evidence that was produced before the court during the trial shows the two of you at the scene of the brutal murder on the night of December 31, 2023,” said Nyakundi.
“The evidence in court shows the suspects are guilty. The defence is too weak to exonerate them,” he told the court.
Both individuals denied being on the scene of the crime.
They were detained a day after the athlete’s body, with a severe wound to his neck, was discovered in his car on the outskirts of Eldoret, in a case that shook the country and sparked an outpouring of condolences.
Kiplagat, who was born in Kenya, represented Uganda in the 3,000m steeplechase for 18 years, including many Olympic Games and World Championship appearances.
He won the silver medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2008 World Junior Championships and the bronze in the 2012 Africa Championships.
He made the semi-finals of the event in the 2012 Olympics in London and also competed in Rio in 2016.
Ushuru and Ekai are due to be sentenced on November 4.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0