Family await justice a year on from Tirop’s murder

BBC Online :
A year on from the murder of Agnes Tirop, her parents Vincent and Dinah are still desperately waiting – and hoping – for justice.
The 25-year-old runner was found dead at her house in Iten, Kenya, on 13 October last year, with multiple stab wounds in her neck and abdomen.
Over 12 months on from not just her murder but also her burial, the anniversary of which came last Sunday, the man accused of killing Tirop – namely, her husband Ibrahim Rotich – has yet to stand trial.
“I have been going through a lot of pain and sadness every single day since Agnes was murdered,” Dinah tells BBC Sport Africa, fighting back tears. “I am still mourning her. I haven’t been alright since my daughter passed on.”
It is of little surprise given the horrific nature of Tirop’s death, which came on top of a promising career having been brutally cut short.
A two-time bronze medallist at the World Athletics Championships over 10,000m, Tirop had finished fourth over 5,000m at the delayed Tokyo Olympics last year.
The month before she died she set the world record
for a women’s-only 10km road race in Germany.
While the mental scars are never far away for her distraught parents, nor is the geographical location of Tirop’s body, which lies next to their house.
Nearly every day Dinah cleans the grave of the world record holder where dust is continually settling, just as with the case itself.
Rotich, who denies wrongdoing, was arrested as the prime suspect in her murder and has been in jail since then, but the wheels of justice for Tirop are moving at a different pace to the speed the athlete showed on the track.
“It’s going very slowly,” Vincent says. “Every time we attend the court it’s just a hearing. The case is not on. They keep telling us to come back next month.
“Sometimes they say the judge is not available and I don’t know why. Time is passing. It doesn’t look good because one year is already gone and there is not much progress.
“We were in court in August and we were told to go back in September. Nothing happened. We were told the magistrate wasn’t available. We heard from the lawyer the next date will be 11 November.
“We don’t understand why the case is taking this long. The government should push to settle this matter and ensure this case comes to a close. We want justice for our daughter.”