The innocent mediator who was felled by killer cop's bullets
Viola Jepkoech Tirop on her graduation day in 2018.
Had Viola Jepkoech Tirop not been too empathetic on the evening of Sunday, March 5, probably things would have turned out differently.
A woman always with a big heart, Ms Tirop, 37, attempted to intervene after she heard a commotion from a house located inside Mugumoini Chief’s Camp, which is located about 750 meters from the Lang’ata Police Station.
She paid the ultimate price.
Corporal Mark Mulanda on Sunday night murdered Ms Tirop and his mistress Ms Rhoda Machuma Chepchumba, 28, inside Mugumoini Chief’s Camp.
According to neighbours, Ms Tirop was busy preparing supper when she heard her neighbour Ms Chepchumba shouting and wailing.
All she could do was rush and find out what was happening and that is how she was shot dead by Mr Mulanda.
On Tuesday, family members collected Ms Jepkoech’s body from Chiromo mortuary in Nairobi County and took it to Kapsabet in Nandi County.
Mr Enock Tirop, 42, husband of the deceased and a policeman who was deployed at the same chief’s camp in 2016 said that he had lost the love of his life.
He said that he met Ms Tirop in 2008 when she was a mother of one, and they fell in love, leading to a traditional wedding the following year.
The rest is history
“At the time she was not in school but just at home. We loved each other and from there the rest is history. It is from there that I encouraged her to complete her studies,” Mr Tirop told the Nation.
Mr Tirop said that in 2010, his wife accepted to join Form One after they got two daughters together and he accepted to finance her studies until completion.
He described his wife as a very hardworking woman who went out of her way to ensure that everything at home was well even though she was still in school.
Mr Enock Tirop and his wife, the late Viola Jepkoech Tirop in an undated photo.
The mother of three scored a C+ in her 2014 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and joined Kisii University where she studied a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Religious Education (CRE) and History. She graduated in 2018 and hoped to be a teacher.
Ms Tirop, once she ensured that their children were back to school would then visit her husband in the big city.
The officer rues the day he agreed recently that his wife should pay him a visit in Lang’ata.
“My wife was sure that in the next three weeks, she would get a calling letter to any school. That is why she came to the city. Little did I know that this would happen to her,” he said.
Mr Caleb Kiprono, a brother-in-law of Ms Tirop said neighbours had told him that his sister is the only one who made a bold move to try and find out what was happening before she met her death.
Started fighting
“We hear that he (Mulanda) started fighting with the girlfriend, and in the process, my sister-in-law tried to go and find out what was happening. Unfortunately, she met the gentleman, and he shot her dead in the corridor,” Mr Kiprono said.
The mother of two has been described as a lively woman, always jovial, who never shied to take photos with her husband.
Mr Tirop says he has lost a woman who made him proud and pushed him to ensure that the children also join school and study hard.
On Monday, March 6, 2023, Mr Mulanda’s colleagues and who spoke to Nation, painted a picture of an officer who had shown signs of depression in the recent past, saying his plight was discussed by colleagues and neighbours at the chief’s camp.
They even described him as a “lone ranger” who was quiet and never spoke to anyone easily.
