It was a reprieve for a Kenyan marathoner, Erick Wainaina, on Wednesday after a Court in Tokyo, Japan, dropped all charges of assault levelled against him.
The Kenyan-born athlete was charged before the Japanese Court for allegedly assaulting a woman and a station worker in the country in March this year.
The incident is said to have occurred after Wainaina and the said woman had an altercation over smartphone use on a train.
According to statements shared in court, the ensuing conflict escalated, causing the two to alight at the station, where the staff member intervened to quell the heated argument.
It’s alleged that the two-time Olympic medallist slapped a woman and a male staff member at Komazawa-daigaku Station in the capital's Setagaya Ward.
The police stated that Wainaina had confessed to the assault but insisted he was drunk during the incident, arguing that he could not recollect what transpired.
While dropping the case, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office did not put forward a reason for dropping the charges against the athlete.
Police reports indicate the matter was taken up by the prosecution team in May, who after investigations decided to drop the case.
The judicial system in Japan is known for its thoroughness, often resulting in lengthy investigations before any formal charges are dropped or upheld.
In this instance, the prosecutors decided to drop the case against the retired athlete, a possible likelihood of the threshold for prosecution not being met.
The 50-year-old athlete who won a bronze medal in Atlanta in 1996 and a silver in Sydney in 2000 can now return to normalcy without the burden of legal issues hanging over them.
Erick migrated to Japan in 1993, when he was 19, to pursue a professional career in the Olympics. Having been born in Kenya, he was a track and field athlete at his high school, pursuing the same in subsequent years.
