Agnes Jebet Tirop’s husband arrested on suspicion of Kenyan athlete’s murder

Kenyan athlete Agnes Jebet Tirop’s husband arrested on suspicion of her murder

According to official police reports on Twitter in Kenya, the husband of murdered athlete Agnes Jebet Tirop, has been arrested as a ‘main suspect’ in her death. The statement issued by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) came at around midnight on Friday, October 15.

In the statement, the DCI explained that, “the main suspect in the gruesome murder of Agnes Tirop, a 25-year-old girl who holds the world record of 10,000 meters, has been arrested”. It continued, “Ibrahim Rotich, who was in a relationship with the athlete, was arrested a few moments ago in Changamwe, Mombasa county, when he tried to flee to a neighbouring county to evade to justice”.

“Rotich is believed to have killed the two-time world athletics championship bronze medalist by stabbing her, before hiding. Tirop’s lifeless body was found lying in his bed on Wednesday morning in Iten, with visible stab wounds in her abdomen”, added the police.

Her husband tried to escape from the police but ended up crashing his vehicle

It is alleged that Rotich was trying to evade pursuing security forces on Thursday 14, at around midday, when he rammed his vehicle into a lorry in Athi River, about 30km from the capital, Nairobi.

“The suspect is being questioned by detectives at the Changamwe Police Station to obtain more details about the murder, before being prosecuted to answer the murder charges”, said the police.

Kenyan running star Tirop was found dead on the morning of Wednesday 13, at her home in Iten, an event that has shocked the Kenyan athletics world and the country. At the time, Athletics Kenya, the athletics federation of this African country, reported, “Kenya has lost a gem that was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her striking performances on the track”.

Uhuru Kenyatta, the Kenyan president also lamented the “very sad loss” of the athlete, whom he defined as a “Kenyan heroine”, and urged the police to “track down and apprehend the criminals responsible for Agnes’s murder so that they can face the full force of the law”, as reported by elpais.com.

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