The husband of murdered Olympic long-distance runner Agnes Tirop will be held in police custody for 20 days, following direction from a court in Iten, Kenya.
He will be detained to allow police to conclude investigations into the killing of the professional 25-year-old athlete, who was found dead in the home shared by herself and her husband last Wednesday, on the 13th of October.
Presently, Ibrahim Rotich, aged 41, the deceased’s husband, is the prime suspect in this case.
Detectives arrested Rotich the following day after he was caught in Mombasa attempting to flee the country.
At 9:30am on Monday, Rotich arrived at the Iten court in the Rift Valley under heavy security, being escorted by more than ten armed police officers.
At the hearing, the Senior Director of Public Prosecution, Judith Ayuma, expressed the likelihood of officers arresting more suspects linked to the murder, saying, “Your honour, I plead for more time because the directorate of criminal investigations officers are yet to go round the country to carry out a probe with a view to apprehending more suspects connected to the killing of the slain runner before being charged for murder.”
Police say the 20 days in which Rotich will be remanded will be used to complete investigations and carry out checks on the accused to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial.
Neither Rotich nor his representatives have made any public comments on the case.