The High Court in Eldoret has been told how murdered athlete Agnes Tirop was allegedly involved in an extramarital affair in the month leading to her killing in Iten town.
An athletics coach, Joseph Cheromei, told Justice Robert Wananda that he worked for an Italian agent, Gianni Demadonna, at the Iten training camp where Tirop used to train.
Cheromei, a longtime athletics coach of the deceased, told Justice Wananda that he was informed about the romantic relationship between Tirop and Sawe.
Cheromei said Demadonna had become suspicious about the relationship between Agnes and a man identified as Sawe after seeing the two behaving in a funny way at several locations.
“Demadonna called and informed me that I should intervene and have the athlete settle to concentrate on training," Cheromei said.
He says that sometime in June 2021, the Italian agent asked him to bring her to the training camp ahead of two major races she was to take part in Tokyo, Japan, and Valencia, Spain.
“Demadonna instructed me to bring Agnes to the camp after he learned that she was going through tough times under the hands of her estranged partner Ibrahim Rotich at their Iten house, which was situated about 500 metres from the training camp,” Cheromei said.
Cheromei was testifying in a case where Rotich, who is the prime suspect in her killing, is facing a murder charge. Rotich has denied the charge and is out on bond as the hearing of the cases continues.
The suspect is said to have killed Tirop on October 13, 2021, at their rural estate house on the outskirts of Iten town in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
The Olympian was killed just a few days after arriving in the country from an international race at the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished fifth in the 5000-meter race.
Another witness, Miriam Rotich, told the court how Ibrahim borrowed her car to run some errands at the time he was suspected to have murdered the runner. She is a sister-in-law to the suspect.
“I gave him my car, which I normally use to drive to my workstation at the main campus, after consulting my husband Cornelius Rotich,” she added.
She said that on the day she gave her car to Ibrahim, he did not look normal as he was tense and sweating profusely.
She later learnt from TV news that Agnes had been murdered in Iten town.
So far, 10 witnesses have testified, and the prosecution led by senior state counsel David Fedha said they will produce another 15 witnesses. Justice Wananda directed that the hearing continue on November 5, 2024