FILE PHOTO: Kenyan athlete Hellen Obiri speaks during the funeral service of long-distance runner Agnes Tirop at Kapnyamisa village, Nandi county, Kenya October 23, 2021. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo
November 9, 2021
ELDORET, Kenya (Reuters) -A Kenyan court on Tuesday ordered the husband of slain Kenyan Olympian Agnes Tirop, who has been arraigned on suspicion of her murder, to undergo a mental health test before entering a plea, which he will do on Nov. 16, court officials said.
Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home in the Rift Valley town of Iten on Oct. 13, in an incident that has shone the spotlight on violence against women https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/two-deaths-shine-spotlight-violence-against-women-kenya-2021-10-15 in Kenya.
Her husband Ibrahim Rotich, 41, was arrested the following day in the coastal city of Mombasa. Police said he had been trying to flee the country https://www.reuters.com/article/us-athletics-kenya-idAFKBN2H80QG.
Rotich appeared in court on Tuesday in handcuffs with a hat and mask covering most of his face, Reuters footage showed.
Neither Rotich, nor his representatives, have made any public comments on the case.
In September, Tirop smashed the women-only 10km world record in Germany. She won bronze medals at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships in the 10,000m.
(Reporting by Nairobi newsroom and Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Ayenat Mersie;Editing by Maggie Fick and Andrei Khalip)
