The mother of slain 3,000m steeplechase athlete Benjamin Kiplagat caused emotions at the High Court in Eldoret as she asked a judge to pass the death sentence against his alleged killers.
70-year-old Elizabeth Chemweno cried out in court and wondered why two suspects who have been found guilty of murdering Kiplagat were still alive.
"Judge, you mean these people are still alive and they killed my son. You mean they are here, and I am suffering because of what they did to my son," Elizabeth said.
She moved the court, narrating how her life had changed after the killing of his son last December.
“My son was everything to my family, and we are now suffering a lot. This people should not be alive at all," Elizabeth said.
She was giving her final pre-sentencing views before Justice Reuben Nyakundi delivered judgement against the two suspects accused of killing Kiplagat.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi ruled that both scientific and circumstantial evidence by the prosecution had linked Peter Ushuru aged 30, and the rider David Ekai, 25, to the athlete on the night of December 31, 2023.
The judge will tomorrow (November 5) give his judgement against the two.
Two brothers of the deceased Vincent Kibet and David Changwonyi also pleaded with the court to pass the death or life sentence against the two.
They described how the family depended on the deceased for their livelihoods.
The prosecution had nine witnesses who testified against the accused.
Ushuru and Ekai denied the offence and claimed to have been framed by the prosecution, but Justice Nyakundi termed their evidence as “mere stories” to try and free themselves.
Nyakundi, while finding the two guilty, said the athlete had died because of the actions of the accused, and the prosecution had proved that they were at the scene of the crime with the motorcycle they used during the incident.
The judge said that the CCTV footage captured the convicts chasing after the runner, who was driving a pick-up vehicle while heading to his home at kimumu estate along the Eldoret-Iten road.
“The CCTV footage shows all your movements clearly at the scene as you moved up and down until you attacked the deceased," the judge said.
"Scientific evidence, including samples taken from the two of you and material collected as evidence, places the two of you at the centre of the crime," Nyakundi said.
Nyakundi ordered the two to file in court their mitigation, after which he will issue a sentence on November 4, 2024.
Earlier Ushuru had claimed in his defence that he was in a night club in Eldoret town on the night the runner was killed while heading to his house in Kimumu estate.
“I was enjoying my good time at a night club in Eldoret town on the night the said athlete was waylaid and killed by some people whom I do not know,” he told the court.
Ushuru recounted how a team of police officers in civilian clothes broke into his house while he was asleep and ordered him to hand over his mobile phone and disclose the M-Pesa PIN.
“One of the officers hit me on the head with a blunt object as he called me a murderer as his colleagues watched and then he ordered me to put on my clothes,” Ushuru said.
The 2008 World Junior and 3,000 metres steeplechase silver medallist was murdered while on his way home on the eve of New Year.
In his defence, the boda boda rider told the court that he was on normal night chores ferrying customers to various destinations at a fee within and outside Eldoret town.
Ekai shocked the court when he claimed that he was a victim of robbery on the material night that he is said to be at the scene where the slain athlete was found murdered.
“I met a customer in Eldoret town who asked if I could ferry him to Kimumu estate and I agreed on the condition that he pay me Sh300 for the journey to his house,” Ekai said.
The judge rejected the defence evidence and said the two were guilty and will be sentenced for the murder.
