The Kenyan police announced, Thursday, October 14, to have arrested the husband of Agnes Tirop, a promising 25-year-old athlete whose murder revealed the day before aroused emotion in the country and in the world of athletics.
“The suspect was arrested in Mombasa”. “He is in detention and was arrested while fleeing”George Kinoti, director of criminal investigations, told AFP. The man arrested, Emmanuel Rotich, should be presented to court on Friday, according to the same source.
The double 10,000m world medalist (in 2017 and 2019), who finished fourth at the last Tokyo Olympics in the 5,000m, was found dead, stabbed, at her home in Iten, a high-altitude town in the west from Kenya where many long-distance and middle-distance runners train.
On Wednesday, Tom Makori, police commander of Keiyo North district, where Iten is located, claimed that Emmanuel Rotich, husband of Agnes Tirop, was the main suspect, “Having made a call to Tirop’s parents to tell them that he had done something wrong”. “The sooner we make him reveal the circumstances which led to the murder of the young woman, the better it will be for all of us”, said the police officer on Thursday.
Tirop’s brutal death made the front page of many media on Friday in Kenya, struck by emotion and amazement. “The murder of a champion”, headline the daily The Daily Nation, writing that“Agnes Tirop had her whole life ahead of her and a flourishing career to come”. “The life of a cruelly shattered athlete”, affirmed The Star.
The Kenya Athletics Federation (IAAF) has announced a two-week suspension of competitions in honor of Tirop and another long-distance runner, Hosea Mwok Macharinyang, who recently committed suicide. IAAF President Jackson Tuwei called the young woman’s death a “Real shock” for Kenyan athletics, of which she was one of the “Rising stars”.
“Cowardly and Selfish Act”
On Thursday, bereaved people, some in tears, gathered at her family’s home in the village of Kapnyamisa, about a two-hour drive from Iten.
“When we heard the news it was very sad, because Agnes has been a good person since she was young and has never been in conflict with anyone.”, said his brother, Josephat Keter. Her mother, Dinah Tirop, recalled with sadness the memory of her daughter, who provided for the needs of the family, including paying for the children’s school fees.
Tirop broke the world record in the 10,000m road a month ago in an all-female 30.01 ”race in Herzogenaurach (Germany).
She was revealed in 2015 when she won the title of world cross-country champion at just 19, becoming the youngest athlete to sign such a performance since South African Zola Budd in 1985.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also paid tribute to him. “It is heartbreaking, extremely unhappy and sad to lose such a promising and young athlete who, at 25, had already brought glory to our country through her exploits on the track, said the head of state in a statement. Her death is all the more difficult to take as the heroine of Kenya, Agnes, was the victim of a cowardly and selfish criminal act. “
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