Steeplechase champion Kemboi charged with assault

 By Vincent Bartoo

World 3,000 Metres steeplechase record holder Ezekiel Kemboi was arraigned in an Eldoret court charged with assault.

Kemboi was brought before the court from the Eldoret Police Station where he was being held under tight security with several other athletes in tow.

Kemboi was charged that on June 27 at West Indies estate in the outskirts of Eldoret town, he assaulted Anne Njeri causing her injuries.

He was accused of allegedly assaulting the woman whom he was accompanying on the material day.

Kemboi denied the charges when he appeared before the Eldoret Principal Magistrate Francis Kyambia’s court that was jam packed by his fellow athletes and members of the public.

He was represented by two Eldoret based lawyers Michael Chemwok and Ledisha Kipseii.

They applied for bail and Kemboi was released on a cash bail of Sh 20,000 or a bond of Sh 50,000 with a surety of similar amount.

The magistrate set the case for hearing on September 25 this year.

Later on, Kemboi’s lawyer Chemwok told the press outside the court that the case was turned against his client.

He said Kemboi, who had first complained that he had been attacked, was being charged instead of those who accosted and tried to rob him.

He said: “What our client has been charged with is an offence yet he was the one who was attacked by some assailants”. 

After his release, Kemboi told journalists said that he was attacked by five people including Njeri but would leave it to his lawyers to defend him in the case.