Kenyan Olympic champion pleads not guilty to defilement of minor

Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Kenyan Olympic champion runner Conseslus Kipruto pleaded not guilty Monday where he appeared in court on charges of defilement of a 15-year-old girl.

Kipruto, 25, pleaded not guilty Monday morning in a court in Kenya in his hometown Kapsabet, which is the capital of Nandi County. The court released the man, who won gold for the 3,000 meter Steeplechase final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on $1,850 cash bond.

Prosecutors said that the charges stem from a report to a local police station the teenager's parents made, alleging Kipruto eloped with their daughter on Oct. 20.

The 15-year-old allegedly went missing for three days, and once she returned home she refused to disclose where she had been, according to the police report, but upon looking at her phone log, police found that she had constantly been communicating with Kipruto.

With the age of consent being 18 in Kenya, the Olympic runner was charged with defilement of a 15-year-old girl.

If found guilty, under the Sexual Offenses Act 2006, he could receive up to a 14-year prison sentence.

Kipruto appeared in the court before the magistrate through Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic with tight security and wearing a hood to avoid media pictures.

The trial is set to begin on May 10.

Kipruto, who has also won a world championship in London in 2017 and in Doha, Qatar, in 2019, competed in only one race this year after testing positive for COVID-19 in August.