The two men were ordered detained for 21 days by a
magistrate’s court in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret to enable police to
continue investigations into the killing of the 34-year-old steeplechase
runner.
The suspects, identified in court documents as David Ekhai
Lokere (alias Timo), aged 25, and Peter Ushuru Khalumi, 30, were arrested on
Monday.
Kiplagat’s body was discovered on a road on the outskirts of
Eldoret in the early hours of Sunday morning with a stab wound to his neck.
While the motive of the killing was still unknown, police
said investigations had shown that Kiplagat had been “waylaid” by the two men
before he hit their motorcycle with his car.
“The two suspects are known criminals who have been
terrorising the members of public,” local police commander Stephen Okal told
AFP on Monday.
Kenyan-born Kiplagat had represented Uganda internationally
in the 3,000m steeplechase, including at three Olympic Games and six World
Championships.
He won the silver medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the
2008 World Junior Championships and bronze at the Africa Championships in 2012.
He made the semi-finals of the event in the 2012 Olympics in
London and also competed in Rio in 2016.
The Uganda Athletics Federation on Monday issued a statement
expressing its “profound sadness and grief” at Kiplagat’s death.
It follows the killing in October 2021 of Kenyan distance
running star Agnes Tirop who was found stabbed to death at the age of 25 in her
home at Iten, a training hub near Eldoret.
Her husband Ibrahim Rotich went on trial for her murder in
November last year. The 43-year-old has denied the charge and was freed on bail
just before the trial opened.
AFP
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