Slain athlete Samson Kandie's trial takes new twist as lawyer expresses fear for his life

Appearing before Eldoret High Court on Tuesday, lawyer Jeff Otieno brought to the attention of the court that the suspect, Jamlick Morogit tried to call him eleven times from the Eldoret GK remand prison where he is detained but he refused to pick his calls.

The wife of slain marathoner, Rose Chepkemboi Rotich who was a clinical officer based at Baringo County Referral Hospital is among three suspects linked to his killing in an incident that occurred in October last year at the deceased’s house in Elgon View estate on outskirt of Eldoret City.

The lawyer wondered how the suspect managed to access a mobile phone that he used to call him while inside the highly protected correctional facility.

He asked the Presiding Judge Reuben Nyakundi to order the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers to take up the matter as he expressed fear over his safety.

Otieno revealed that he later came to know the identity of the person pestering him with persistent phone calls on his mobile phone through the true caller as Jamlick Morogit.

The lawyer expressed concern over how the suspect knew his mobile phone number and yet he had never shared his number or interacted with the suspect at all.

In his ruling, the Judge issued summonses to Kenya’s network provider, Safaricom to send one of its data analysts to court to help unravel the saga surrounding the phone calls that were made to the lawyer linked to the said prime suspect, noting that he should receive report on the matter by August 1, 2025.

Kandie was found tortured with his hands and legs tied with a rope behind a toilet in the compound of his house on the fateful October 3, 2024.

Five witnesses among them the daughter of the slain marathoner Vienna Chepchirchir and an investigating officer have so far testified in the murder trial against the accused persons.