Men Sentenced to 35 Years for 2023 Murder of Athlete Benjamin Kiplagat in Kenya

Uganda's Benjamin Kiplagat (L) competes during the World Athletic Championships at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing on Aug. 22, 2015. David J. Phillip/AP Photo

A Kenyan court sentenced two men to 35 years in prison on Nov. 4 for the 2023 murder of Ugandan Olympian Benjamin Kiplagat.

Peter Ushuru Khalumi, 30, and David Ekai Lokere, 25, were convicted of murdering the steeplechase specialist, who was fatally stabbed on New Year’s Eve in Eldoret, western Kenya.

“Your actions were cruel to a defenseless person whose life you cut short, contrary to God’s plan where God intended man to live for a minimum of 70 years. This court has sentenced two of you to serve a jail term of 35 years,” Justice Reuben Nyakundi told the killers during Monday’s sentencing hearing at the Eldoret High Court.

Nyakundi said the pair followed the 34-year-old athlete in his car and that CCTV evidence showed they stabbed him in a premeditated attack before fleeing on a motorbike. The motive remains unclear.

The judge said the pair had shown little remorse for their crimes, instead choosing to plead their innocence in the face of the evidence against them.

“The kind of remorsefulness you have expressed in this court cannot add up. You had an intention to take the life of the young athlete,” Nyakundi said, according to the Ugandan outlet Monitor. “You failed to protect life and your remorse has no value.”

Kiplagat’s mother, Elizabeth Chemwemo, had asked Nyakundi to hand down life sentences during an emotional address to the court on Monday.

“My son had 8,000 [Kenyan] shillings ($62) and an expensive mobile phone, but the killers did not take any of the property from him. Their mission was to painfully finish him,” Chemwemo told the court.

Although the family had called for the killers to be jailed for life, they said they were satisfied with the outcome and felt that justice had been served.

After the sentencing, the athlete’s brother Vincent Chemweno said, “We are happy justice has been served even though we had requested the court to sentence the accused to life imprisonment,” NTV Kenya reported.

Kiplagat reached the final of the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

He also competed in the following two Olympic Games and remains the holder of the Ugandan record at the event.

His other achievements included competing in six world championships and winning a bronze medal at the 2012 African championships.

Several other elite athletes have been killed in Kenya in recent years, all around the city of Eldoret.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.