Eldoret High Court orders DNA samples from Agnes Tirop's accused husband

Less than a month after the husband of slain World Cross Country Champion Agnes Tirop; Ibrahim Rotich was freed on bail, the High Court in Eldoret has ordered DNA samples from Rotich who is the key suspect in the murder.

On November 15, Justice Robert Wananda directed Rotich to be released on a bond of Ksh. 400,000 ($2,600), with a surety of a similar amount, or cash bail of Ksh. 500,000 ($3,300), citing insufficient reasons to continue detaining the 43-year-old.

Tirop was found dead in her house on the outskirts of Iten town, Elgeyo Marakwet county, on October 13, 2022.

A postmortem carried out by two pathologists at the Iten County Referral Hospital mortuary revealed Tirop was stabbed in the neck and hit on the head with a blunt object.

She was buried at her parent’s home in Mosoriot, Nandi County, on October 23, 2022.

Rotich, who denied the charge, had been denied bail four times by a court in Eldoret town because of concerns over his safety as well as the possibility he could be a flight risk.

In the recent development, Justice Wananda has ordered that the suspect be escorted to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) Eldoret for the DNA samples to be taken, following a request by the prosecution.

The DNA samples will be compared with the deceased's bloodstained clothing from the day of her death and a stained knife that may have been used in the murder at their Iten town, Elgeyo Marakwet County, home.

David Fedha, the prosecutor, asked the court to order Rotich to submit to the DNA test, arguing that it would be essential to building their case and supplying evidence for the murder trial.

"The samples from the accused will be compared with samples recovered from a knife, which is believed to have been the murder weapon used to kill the deceased, and the blood-stained clothes that the deceased was wearing on the fateful day," Fedha told the court.

Slain Kenyan athlete Tirop's accused husband freed on bail

Rotich has since denied killing Tirop.

Tirop, who died at the age of 25, was a fast-rising athlete. She was a double world 10,000m bronze medalist and 2015 world cross-country champion who also finished fourth in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics.

She also smashed the world women-only record in the 10km road race in Germany in the month before her killing.