by Nurat Uthman
Two Kenyan men were found guilty on Monday of murdering Ugandan Olympic distance runner Benjamin Kiplagat, found stabbed to death in the East African country’s north-west on New Year’s Eve.
Peter Ushuru Khalumi and David Ekai Lokere were convicted of murdering the 34-year-old Olympian by Eldoret High Court, after a nine-month trial in the Rift Valley town.
Judge Reuben Nyakundi said CCTV showed the men, who the court gave as 30 and 25 years old, chasing 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 men denied being at the scene of the crime.
They were arrested a day after the athlete’s body, a deep wound to his neck, was found in his car on the outskirts of Eldoret in a case that shocked the country and prompted a flood of tributes.
During a career spanning 18 years, the Kenyan-born Kiplagat had represented Uganda internationally in the 3,000m steeplechase, including at several Olympic Games and World Championships.
He won the silver medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2008 World Junior Championships and bronze at the Africa Championships in 2012.
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.
