Chinese athlete released on bond over accusations of threatening to kill

An Eldoret court has released a 36-year-old Chinese athlete accused of threatening to kill his former girlfriend two years ago on a Ksh. 50,000 bond with a surety of a similar amount from a Kenyan citizen.

Senior Principal Magistrate Onkoba Mogire imposed strict conditions on the accused, Chen Ching Yen to ensure he attends court trials when required.

Yen, who trains in Iten town in Elgeyo Marakwet county, was arrested by sleuths attached to the ATPU in Eldoret two weeks ago after Michele Jemutai Koskei reported him to the police over threats on her life.

The charge against him states that on May 9, 2022, at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, he sent an electronic message via WhatsApp to the complainant, threatening to terminate her life.

The one-paragraph threatening message read in part:” Let me tell you, I can kill you and the baby and you will do nothing because the police of Kenya are just stupid.

“I will give them money and no story about you again, I will cut you into pieces,”.

The foreign runner, who has been at the Eldoret GK remand prison for two weeks since his arrest, is represented by lawyers Alex Masakha and Peter Momonayi.

Earlier on, there was a stand-off in court between the legal counsels for the accused and the investigating police officer in the matter, Githinji Kaaria.

This was after the Investigating Officer requested that the accused person be held in remand prison for an additional 14 days to allow for the completion of the ongoing investigation.

While opposing the request, the lawyers told the court that the reasons provided by the investigating officer were not compelling enough to warrant keeping their client in custody.

He brought to the attention of the Presiding Magistrate that the IO has not yet recorded any statement from the complainant more than two weeks since the arrest and arraignment in court of his client.

The magistrate declined the request by the IO to continue holding the accused person in custody.

He instead directed that the matter be mentioned on October 2, 2024 for pre-trial.