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Ibrahim Rotich, the prime suspect in the murder of athlete Agnes Tirop, left behind a suicide note after allegedly killing her, an Eldoret High Court heard yesterday.

In his testimony-in-chief before Justice Wananda Anuro, the athlete’s pacesetter Victor Koilel tabled in court a suicide note which showed the intention by the suspect to end his life because of relationship problems with the deceased.

In the suicide note which the witness read in court, Rotich indicated two options he intend to use to end his life: A car crash or drowning himself in a river.

“There is no need for suffering in a stressful marriage. I would rather die by throwing myself in a river or through a fatal road accident,” read the suicide note.

The suspect had further indicated in the note that there should be no burial ceremony for him in the event that he ended his own life.

“While loading her property at the Iten house , I stumbled on a notebook in which the accused had indicated his intention to terminate his life,” he said.

Nightclubs

He told the court that this wanted to take her belongings to her parent’s home in Nandi County after the police transported her body from the crime scene to Iten County referral hospital mortuary.

Koilel said he handed over the suicide note to Tirop’s father, Vincent Tirop, who handed it over to the police.

He also told the court that Tirop used to complain bitterly to the accused that he was spending a lot of her money drinking in nightclubs. Koilel said the complaints by the athlete would frequently lead to Rotich assaulting her.

While also testifying in the trial, the runner’s father narrated to the court how her daughter dropped out of secondary school after she eloped with Rotich in 2016.

He said his efforts to trace her daughter were hampered when the accused made her cut all communication with her family members.

“The accused eloped with my daughter in 2016 while she was in Form Two and my efforts to trace her for four years were futile as he ensured that she could not communicate with me,” he said.

Rotich, who is out on a Sh400,000 bond, has denied the charge of killing Tirop in November 2021 at their house on the outskirts of Iten town, Elgeyo Marakwet County.

Then aged 25, the athlete participated in the Tokyo summer Olympics held in 2021 where she featured in the 5,000-metre race and finished fourth.

Blunt object

In 2017 and 2019, she won a bronze medal at the World championship in the 10,000m and broke the record in Women’s 10km road race at the Adizero Road event in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

Her mutilated body was found in her house in Iten house on October 13, 2021 by police and members of her family who had reported at Iten the police station that she had gone missing.

A postmortem examination that was conducted on the body revealed she suffered neck stabs and was hit on the head with a blunt object.

Four key prosecution witnesses, including her younger sister Eve Jepngetich, have so far testified in the trial.

The hearing continues today.