Eldoret High Court found two men guilty for the murder of Ugandan steeplechase athlete Benjamin Kiplagat. The courts used closed circuit TV to try the murders from their crime of December 31, 2024. The course used forensic evidence to link Peter Ushuru, 30, and David Ekai, 25 to the crime.
Kiplagat was a 3,000-metre steeplechase specialist.
Preliminary Police investigation indicate that Ugandan athlete Benjamin Kiplagat was "hunted down in the dead of the night", stabbed and left to die by the roadside.
— Saddique Shaban (@SaddiqueShaban) January 1, 2024
CCTV capture the last moments Benjamin attempted to flee from his killers, before crashing into a ditch. https://t.co/RLwJMjuZqn pic.twitter.com/h8Z7RIbK6o
The ruling by Justice Reuben Nyakundi followed a long trial process, where the prosecution presented forensic and video evidence linking the accused to the murder. The murder happened in the Kimumu Estate just outside of Eldoret.
The footage shows Ekai riding a motorcycle taxi. Ushuru was his passenger. It was decided that the murder was a premeditated act.
“Scientific evidence that was produced before my court during the trial places the two of you at the scene of the brutal murder on the night of December 31, 2023, at Kimumu Estate on the outskirts of Eldoret town,” Justice Nyakundi stated.
Kiplagat was 32-years-old. He set the still-standing national 3000msc record in 2010 in Lausanne, Switzerland at 8:03.81. Kiplagat was a six-time national champion, once in the 10,000m event. He placed fourth in the Commonwealth Games and won bronze during the African Championships. Kiplagat placed fourth and fifth in the 2008 and 2007 World U20 Cross Country Championships.