A Kenyan court sentenced two men to 35 years in prison each for the murder of Ugandan athlete Benjamin Kiplagat late last year.
An Olympic steeplechaser was stabbed to death on New Year’s Eve in the town of Eldoret, known as a top training center for athletes.
“Your actions are what you deserve,” Judge Reuben Nyakundi told Peter Ushuru Khalumi and David Ekai Lokere during their sentencing hearing at the Eldoret High Court. “It was cruel to a defenseless person who ended his life,” he said.
Kiplagat’s killing shocked Kenyans, who have seen numerous killings of elite athletes in recent years.
The judge said Kalumi and Roquere followed Kiplagat in his car, and CCTV footage showed they deliberately killed him in a planned act.
On Monday, the player’s mother made an emotional request to the court, asking Justice Nyakundi to sentence him to life imprisonment.
She told how her son, who started running barefoot, worked hard to become an international runner and family man, the Nation newspaper reported.
“My son had $8,000. [Kenyan] Although he had a shilling ($62, £48) and an expensive mobile phone, the killers did not take a penny of his property from him. Their mission was to bring him to a painful end,” the newspaper quoted her as saying.
They said they were satisfied with the outcome and that justice had been served, despite the family’s request for a life sentence not being met.
Kiplagat, 34, advanced to the final of the 3000m steeplechase at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also competed in the next two games and is the Ugandan record holder in those events.
