The late two-time World 10,000 metres bronze medalist Agnes Tirop was in a love affair with another man, a witness has told the High Court in Eldoret.
Joseph Cheromei, her long-time coach, told presiding Judge Robert Wananda that he was informed of the affair by Ms Tirop's Italian athletics manager Giani Demadona.
Mr Cheromei testified that the manager was concerned about the safety of Ms Tirop, who was brutally murdered in October 2021, telling him she was involved with a man only identified as Sawe. Her estranged husband, Mr Ibrahim Rotich, was charged with murdering the athlete in November 2021.
“I am a coach at Iten Athletics Training Camp Limited in Elgeyo Marakwet where I also act as an agent for the Italian athletics manager,” said Mr Cheromei.
He said that in June 2021, the Italian manager asked him to bring Ms Tirop to the training camp ahead of two major races she was to take part in in Japan and Spain.
“My agent instructed me to bring Agnes to the camp after he learned that she was going through tough times at the hands of her estranged partner Ibrahim Rotich at their Iten house, which was located about 500 metres from the training camp,” narrated Mr Cheromei.
Ibrahim Rotich, a suspect in the murder of his 'wife' Agnes Tirop, an international athlete, in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County in October 2021, appears in Eldoret High Court on November 2, 2022.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya I Nation Media Group
He was testifying in Ms Tirop’s murder case where Mr Rotich, the prime suspect in her killing, is said to have killed Ms Tirop at their house on the outskirts of Iten town in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Mr Rotich, who is out on a Sh400,000 bond, has pleaded not guilty. He is represented by lawyer Ngigi Mbugua while the family of the slain runner is represented by Richard Warigi.
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 metres.
'Borrowed my car to escape'
Another witness, Miriam Rotich, a lecturer at Moi University, told the court how the prime suspect, who is also her brother-in-law, asked her to lend him her car to run an errand in Kitale town, Trans Nzoia County.
“I gave him my car which I normally use to drive to my work station at the main campus after consulting my husband Cornelius Rotich,” she said.
She noted that on the day she gave him her car, he did not look normal as he was tense and sweating profusely.
The university don recalled that she lent him her car on October 12, 2021. Hours later, she would hear breaking news about the gruesome murder of Ms Tirop.
She said efforts to reach Mr Rotich on phone to enquire about her car were futile as he had switched his line off.
“I was in my house in Kesses...on switching on my TV at lunchtime, I was shocked by breaking news of the murder of the international runner who I knew to be a girlfriend of my brother-in-law,” stated Ms Rotich.
She later realised that he wanted to use her vehicle to escape, Ms Rotich told the court.
“I immediately rushed to the nearby Kesses police station to report my missing car before returning to my house," she said.
