The Eldoret High Court has issued a directive for the two main suspects in the murder of Kenyan-born Ugandan athlete Edward Benjamin Kiplagat to undergo a mental assessment before entering their pleas to murder charges.

Deputy Registrar Rosemary Onkoba has instructed that David Ekhai Lokere alias Timo and Peter Ushuru Khalumi, be escorted to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital for the mental assessment on Monday.

They are to be arraigned in court on January 31st for the formal plea-taking process. In the interim, both suspects will be held at Eldoret GK Prison.

The lifeless body of the long-distance runner was discovered in a car lying in a pool of blood with stab wounds on December 31, 2023, in Kimumu Estate, Eldoret.

A day later, police arrested the two suspects, one of them a bodaboda rider — in separate places: Kitale and Turkana. Police also recovered a knife they suspect was used to commit the gruesome murder.

Kiplagat, a runner for nearly two decades, earned a silver medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2008 World Junior Championships and a bronze at the 2012 Africa Championships.

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He reached the semi-finals at the 2012 London Olympics and competed in Rio in 2016. Sadly, he passed away, marking another loss in the running world.

Kiplagat’s murder follows the tragic killing of Agnes Tirop in October 2021. The Kenyan distance runner was found stabbed to death at 25 in her Iten home, near Eldoret.

Tirop’s husband, Ibrahim Rotich, faced trial for her murder last month, denying the charges and being released on bail before the trial began.