Banned runner Zane Robertson on his 17-month nightmare in Kenya and acquittal on serious charges

Sunday, 3 August 2025

This story was originally published on The Post.

Banned New Zealand distance runner Zane Robertson says he was framed for rape and illegal gun possession, threatened with a murder charge, and “taken advantage of” in a Kenyan jail cell.

Robertson, who was cleared of two charges related to a rifle - with the rape allegation against him dropped - says he’ll never return to live in Kenya after heading there as a teenager along with twin brother Jake to become world-class runners.

Robertson, who was handed an eight-year ban from track and field in 2023 for testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing substance EPO and for making up an elaborate story to explain his failed doping test, said he’s still not over what happened to him after what “started out as a normal night” later that year turned into a 17-month nightmare.

“It was only early this year when I was given a judgement,” Robertson told the Sunday Star-Times in an exclusive interview.

“The prosecution knew they didn’t have a case, so they kept postponing, delaying.

“I think I’m still not over it. I definitely have a lot of hatred and frustration.

“I had to leave my house, I had to leave everything I ever built. I owned my house outright in Kenya. All of these things I left, because I just can’t be there any more.”

After being arrested in September 2023, Robertson was acquitted in February this year, with the Principal Magistrate of the Magistrate Court of Kenya at Elgeyo/Marakwet, Emily Kigen, questioning in her written judgement whether the case should have gone to court.

'Clearly, I am left to wonder what the basis under which the investigating officer brought the case to court. From the evidence before the court the manner in which the investigation was carried was shoddy and wanting,' Kigen wrote.

Robertson claimed the police “had it out for me for a long time”.

“When you’re foreign in Kenya and you’ve been there too long, they know, they can smell money, and an opportunity.

“Especially with my history with the drug ban - they thought I had a house full of drugs. They’re not about enforcing the law, they’re about blackmail and how much money they can get.

“It’s the Wild West - it’s about who can make money from you, and what opportunity they have.”

Robertson said the case stemmed from a night at his house with two friends. One invited a female over, and another female arrived with her.

“Things went south. They asked me when I came in if I smoked weed, and I don’t - I know it’s illegal in Kenya.

“Later on they started smoking weed on my balcony, and I have a lot to lose, so I told them it was time to leave. They were pretty drunk, and then started throwing bottles, and one of them hit my head. They escorted the girls out of my house, and they [the two girls] were trying to break my windows as they were going.”

One of Robertson’s male friends drove the girls back to where one lived, and was asked for money.

“She said ‘I don’t care who pays, you or the mzungu, meaning the white man.

“She took her dress off, [my friend] said no and she ran away. She was high and drunk too - it sounds like a horror story, doesn’t it?”

Robertson meanwhile went to the local hospital and had his head injury checked.

“They asked why my head was cut open and I told them, and they told me to come back in the morning. I had assault forms to fill out, P3 forms. I thought I had to be ready for this in case she did go to the police; I better be ready to charge her.”

Robertson said he got those forms filled out by a doctor the next morning, then went to a police station to check on a previously stolen passport.

He was asked by police if he knew her, and the complainant began accusing him of stealing her cellphone and stealing her clothes.

“The police saw the opportunity to search my house without a warrant.

“I was on the phone to my lawyer, and they took my phone and confiscated it - they hung up on the lawyer while I was talking, handcuffed me, took me to my house and put yellow tape up at my house.

“They knew what they were going to find before even entering the house … handcuffed me to the balcony, allowed the witness, this girl, just to walk around my house. The forensics team showed up, and next thing I know, the media showed up.”

Robertson claimed about US$40,000 was stolen from his house during this time, along with an Olympic cellphone, alcohol, Rayban sunglasses, a watch and new Nike shoes.

When he was un-handcuffed from the balcony, they took him to his bedroom and presented him with a rifle.

“The officer was already holding it, with no gloves, he just gave it to me to try and get me to hold it. I did know what they were trying to do immediately. They took photos of it on the ground, unloaded the clip .. they never took photos of where they found it.

“The investigating officer, in the end, his cover report and the charge sheet that they drew up against me didn’t match.

“The last time I saw her was when she was in the back of another truck going away when I was being taken back to the jail cell. She was never mentioned again to me - they just saw that she wasn’t a credible witness.”

However, Robertson was taken back to the police station and detained.

“Obviously I was scared.

“The captain of the station - or the highest-ranked person - these were his words: ‘We can put salt and pepper however we like on this, we can make you go down for murder’.”

Robertson spent nine nights in jail and said he was “taken advantage of by a few people”.

“I can’t get into details, obviously. I was also taken advantage of by the court system - two lawyers were working with police to make charges more so I had to keep paying lots of money … everyone worked together there to make as much of it as they can, from a foreigner.

“I had to fire two lawyers and finally found a good one, who started to identify a lot of things that actually the police had done wrong.”

Robertson was charged with the offence of being in possession of a firearm without a firearm certificate, and faced a second count of being in possession of ammunition without a firearm certificate, after police allegedly found 23 rounds of 7.62 calibre ammunition.

“This was the biggest one that made everyone see - they had a gun with a serial number on the charge sheet. They had a gun that was sent to Nairobi for forensics with ballistics tests done, then a serial number was reported. And then they also had another gun which showed up in court as an exhibit, and it had another serial number,” Robertson said.

“So there were three different guns that were presented to the court … if it was anywhere else in the world, it would have been thrown out immediately.”

He was eventually allowed out on bail, but not before being sent to another prison for a night with 96 other inmates in one area, saying the court system didn’t inform his family what was needed to pay bail.

“I think Kenya might be a nice place to visit one day - but I couldn’t live there anymore, too many memories.”

Robertson said he wants to start afresh in New Zealand “like nobody knows me”.

“I’ve put on body weight and muscle - I don’t want to look like a runner anymore.”

In March 2023, Robertson was found to have breached the rules “for the presence and use or attempted use of the prohibited substance Erythropoietin (EPO), and for tampering, or attempted tampering, with any part of the doping control process” by the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand.

Robertson’s suspension was effectively doubled after he produced falsified records and false testimony to support his claims in defence of how the substance ended up in his system.

Robertson won bronze in the 5000m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, was 12th in the men’s 10,000m at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 36th in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“I made some bad decisions close to the end there, and obviously got the drug ban. I should have just pulled the trigger and said enough is enough and maybe retired early. I was getting frustrated and depressed with the whole situation, how major league sport is at the top.

“You’re treated less than a human being most of the time.

“Managers and shoe companies and just the industry itself - people stop talking to you, or stop replying to your messages. They’d tell you ‘we thought you’d run faster’ … they’d give you ultimatums like ‘your contract’s coming to an end next year; if you don’t compete in the next race well, we’re going to drop you.

“I kept getting injuries because of the stress. I really broke down as a human being. I was kind of, at that point after the Olympics, I was going through a divorce at that time too - that wasn’t a good relationship, it wasn’t healthy at all - so all those things together … I wasn’t in a good mental place when I took some sports drugs.”

Robertson said he had a job interview to be a personal trainer and run coach in the Cayman Islands while still in Kenya, but an article published in 2023 outlining how he was to appear in court over sexual assault and gun charges.

“Everything was provided from flights to accommodation and a great starting salary package for three months while I got on my feet.

“We were at the point of almost signing a contract, and I didn’t hear from them for a week. It turns out they’d Googled me, and that article just blew me to pieces.”

CORRECTION: The initial story said Robertson had the rape charge against him dropped. Robertson faced an initial allegation which was subsequently dropped and he was not charged. (Amended: August 3, 2025, 11.23am.)