Slain athlete Agnes Tirop's family declines plea bargain with prime murder suspect
Ibrahim Rotich, a suspect in the murder of his ‘wife’ Agnes Tirop, an international athlete at Iten in Elgeyo Marakwet County in October last year, when he appeared before Justice Reuben Nyakundi, at Eldoret High Court on November 02, 2022. The suspect had applied for plea bargaining which is yet to be actualised.
The family of aslain international athlete Agnes Tirop has declined to enter into plea bargaining with the family of Ibrahim Rotich, a prime suspect in the murder of the athlete.
Following the disagreement, the High Court in Eldoret has given the parties a last chance to agree on the plea bargain.
While presiding over the matter on Thursday, justice Reuben Nyakundi directed the two parties to ventilate the issue of plea bargain and see whether they will reach a common stand before he gives further direction regarding the case.
"I am giving the two parties a last chance on this issue of the plea bargain to give direction on the matter," directed the Judge.
When the matter came up in court, Simiyu Khatete, the lawyer for the accused, told the court that his client wants to pursue a plea bargain with the family of his estranged wife.
"We had hoped that there would be a white smoke as regards to plea bargain with the family of the victim but to our utter shock the other party has turned down the offer," he told the Judge.
This was after lawyer Richard Waringi representing the family of the victim brought to the attention of the packed court that they have not been served with documents regarding plea bargain.
"The family of the victim is not willing to pursue the plea bargain and if that will happen, we will still retain the charges of murder against the accused person owing to the circumstances under which the victim made her death," argued lawyer Waringi.
The Judge directed the two parties to appear before him on April 18, 2023 once they have agreed on the plea bargain route before he gives further direction on the matter.
Mr Rotich, 41, the key suspect in the heinous murder of his estranged wife had denied murder charges before the High Court after the mental assessment report from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital showed that he was fit to stand trial.
The charge against him states that he killed Tirop on October 12, at Rural estate in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet county.
The family of the late Tirop led by her father Vincent Tirop as well as Rotich’s siblings were present during the court session.
The suspect who is currently being held at Eldoret GK remand prison was arrested at a police roadblock at Chaani in Changamwe while planning to escape to a neighboring country after killing the international runner.
She participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic, featuring in the 5,000m race in which she finished fourth.
The athlete was found dead in her house in Iten on october 13.
According to a postmortem by two pathologists at the Iten County Referral Hospital Mortuary, it was revealed that the slain athlete suffered neck stabs and was also hit on the head with a blunt object.
Ms Tirop was interred at her parent's home in Nandi County on October 23 which coincidentally was her 26th birthday.
She first came to prominence at the national level in 2012, when she was runner-up to world junior championship as her first national selection and international medal experience.
The deceased won bronze medals in the 10,000 metres at the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships.
At the 2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Tirop became the second-youngest ever gold medalist in the women's race after Zola Budd.
At the time of her death in 2021, she was the world-record holder in the 10 kilometres women's only event.
