Prime suspect in Agnes Tirop murder goes AWOL

Ibrahim Rotich, the prime suspect in the killing of former women’s only 10km road running world record holder Agnes Tirop has gone AWOL.
Rotich therefore risks his cancellation of his bond after failing to turn up in court during the hearing of the murder case against him on Wednesday.
It was a no show for Rotich at Eldoret High Court where the Presiding Judge Robert Wananda had allocated the entire day for the trial of his case.
The court had given Rotich a Sh400,000 bond with two similar sureties or a cash bail of Sh500,000 two years ago following his second bond application.
His lawyer Ngigi Mbugua had convinced the court that his client was not a flight risk as argued by the prosecution, which had objected to the bail application for two years.
Rotich is suspected to have killed Tirop on October 12 at a rural estate in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County.
When the case came up for hearing on Wednesday, Ngigi, Rotich’s lawyer, shocked the court after saying that his client had switched off his two mobile phones, and besides, he had also relocated from his known place of abode.
 They noted that there was no way the trial would proceed without the presence of the accused person in court.
The mention of the matter has been slated for March 18 this year, when he will get a report on the whereabouts of the accused person.
Hearing of the case is set for 12 June 2025.
Before her murder, Tirop looked like a sporting fairytale as she went from strength to strength, winning bronze in the 10,000m at both the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London and the following World Championships in Doha in 2019, and narrowly missed out on the podium when she came fourth in the 5,000m race at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021.