Three witnesses recall final moments with man before wife's killing

Gloria Sangute was a teacher at Ngeria Girls High School in Eldoret. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Three witnesses yesterday testified before the High Court in Eldoret during the murder trial of a US-based athlete.

Isaiah Kipchirchir is accused of killing his wife Gloria Sangutei, a high school teacher, on August 5, 2019. The court heard that Ms Sangutei was living with the accused at a rental house in Outspan area near Eldoret town before they separated.

Valentine Kibor, a friend and neighbour of Sangutei, told Justice Eric Ogola that Mr Kipchirchir had left Sangutei’s house about a month before the murder.

“At the time of the murder, Sangutei was not cohabiting with anyone. But before then, she was living with the accused person. I do not know exactly what caused their separation,” said Ms Kibor.

She said Sangutei had requested her to accompany her to Ancilla Shopping Centre on the evening before she was killed.

“I could not accompany her because I had some house chores to do. The next morning, I saw a police Land Cruiser and on inquiring, I was told that a woman’s body had been found in Ancilla. I looked at the body in the police vehicle and it was Sangutei,” she recalled.

Two other witnesses said they had interacted with him a day before the teacher’s killing.

Caroline Jepkemboi told the court that a day before at around 9am, she was heading home from a nearby shop with her grandmother when the accused called them and told them that he was starving.

“He told us that he had not eaten or slept for three days, and we asked him to come to our house where we fed him. He claimed that his wife had kicked him out of their house and that she was not picking his calls,” she said.

Another witness Irene Jepng’etich, who was at Jepkemboi’s house at the time, said that Kipchirchir lamented about his broken marriage.

The accused, she told the court, claimed he had a gift that he wanted to give to his wife but was disappointed that she was not up picking up his calls.

Ten more prosecution witnesses are expected to testify. Hearing continues on June 8.