Kemboi assault case adjourned
A court case against two-time Olympic 3 000m steeplechase champion Ezekiel Kemboi has been postponed for a month to give the prosecutor's office time to go over the file.
"There is no objection to the director of public prosecution being given more time to make a decision on the file," magistrate Francis Kyambia told the court.
Thirty-year-old Kemboi, who is also a serving police officer, is facing charges of having assaulted and caused bodily harm to Anne Njeri, a woman with whom he had been having drinks in late June in his hometown of Eldoret, some 300 kilometres west of the Kenyan capital.
Kemboi denied the charges, saying that Njeri had been knifed by her own accomplices in a botched attempt to rob him on his way home.
The athlete was bailed in time to participate in the London Olympics, where he won the 3 000m steeplechase gold medal, becoming the first Kenyan to take two Olympic titles in the event, which he also won at the 2004 Athens Games.
He is also a two-time world champion.
When Kemboi appeared in court on Tuesday, the prosecution said the case file was yet to reach the director of public prosecution, Keriako Tobiko, and asked for the case to be adjourned to October 23.
According to local media, Tobiko, whose office gives him powers to terminate charges or call for a fresh investigation, has said he is not satisfied with the way the initial police probe was handled.
