A court docket in Kenya has sentenced two males to 35 years every for the homicide of Ugandan athlete Benjamin Kiplagat on the finish of final 12 months.
The Olympic steeplechaser was stabbed to loss of life on New Yr’s Eve within the city of Eldoret, generally known as a high coaching centre for athletes.
“Your actions had been merciless to a defenceless particular person whose life you chop brief,” Justice Reuben Nyakundi instructed Peter Ushuru Khalumi and David Ekai Lokere throughout the sentencing listening to within the Excessive Courtroom in Eldoret.
Kiplagat’s homicide shocked folks in Kenya, which has seen the killing of various different elite athletes lately.
The decide mentioned that Khalumi and Lokere had adopted Kiplagat, who was in his automotive, after which CCTV footage confirmed that they’d deliberately killed him in a premeditated act. The precise motive for the homicide was not clear however on the time of the arrests the police had mentioned it was theft.
On Monday, in an emotional request to the court docket, the athlete’s mom had requested Justice Nyakundi at hand down life sentences.
She talked about how her son, who began his profession operating barefoot, had labored onerous to develop into a world runner and the household’s breadwinner, the Nation newspaper reviews.
“My son had 8,000 [Kenyan] shillings ($62; £48) and an costly cell phone, however the killers didn’t take any of the property from him. Their mission was to painfully end him,” the newspaper quotes her as saying.
Regardless of not acceding to the household’s request for all times sentences, they mentioned they had been proud of the end result and that justice had been served.
Kiplagat, who was 34 when he died, reached the ultimate of the three,000m steeplechase on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He additionally competed within the following two Video games and is the holder of the Ugandan file on the occasion.