Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto was on Monday charged with defiling a minor.
According to the charge sheet, Kipruto is alleged to have committed the offence between October 20, 2020 and October 21, 2020 at Tironin Sub-Location, Mutnot Location within Nandi county to the minor aged 15.
Kipruto appeared at the Kapsabet Law Court in Nandi where he denied the charge and was released on cash bail of Sh200,000 with a surety of a similar amount.
Kipruto is one of the most decorated Kenyan runners. Besides the Olympics title, won in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, he is also a two-time world champion (London 2017 and Doha 2019), a Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast 2018) and African champion (Asaba 2018).
He won his title in Rio in an Olympics Record time of 8:03.28. News of Kipruto’s dalliance with the minor came out last month when it was reported that police in Nandi were looking for him over the incident.
The girl’s parents had filed a report at Mosoriot Police Station, claiming the star athlete had eloped with the Form Two student, alleging that their daughter, who had gone missing from home, was putting up with Kipruto at his home in Chesumei.
Kipruto’s arraignment is not the kind of news athletics lovers would have wished for at this time, especially after former World 1,500m champion Elijah Manang’oi was handed a two-year ban for whereabouts failures by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) last month.
With the delayed 2020 Olympics set to take place in Tokyo, Japan next year, Kipruto might find it difficult to participate in the Games, given the case will be mentioned on May 20, 2021, robbing the country two gold medal prospects.
Cases of defilement in Kenya attract up to 30 years in jail for those found guilty.
