Man who set Ugandan runner Rebecca Cheptegei on fire dies in hospital

The guy who assaulted Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei of Uganda has passed away from injuries he received when he poured gasoline on her, the Kenyan hospital treating him announced on Tuesday.

According to the police, on September 1, Dickson Ndiema Marangach attacked Cheptegei in her western Kenyan house. The mother of two passed away last week after sustaining 80% burns.

Marangach was being treated in the intensive care unit of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret after suffering 30% burns during the attack.

“It’s true we lost Dickson Ndiema last night at about 8:00 pm,” an official at the hospital’s communications department told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the press.

His family had been informed, the official said, adding that a “comprehensive statement” would be released later.

The attack on the 33-year-old Cheptegei has been greeted with sorrow and anger as yet another horrific example of gender-based violence in the East African country.

At least two other athletes have lost their lives at the hands of their partners since 2021.

Cheptegei is due to be buried on September 14 near her family home in eastern Uganda, according to the country’s Olympic Committee.

The attack, which local media said was witnessed by Cheptegei’s daughters, came just weeks after she made her Olympic debut in the women’s marathon at the Paris Games, where she finished 44th.

Police said Marangach snuck into her home in Endebess, near the border with Uganda, while she was at church with her children.

Her father, Joseph Cheptegei, told reporters the dispute with Marangach had been over the property where she lived with her sister and daughters.

He told Kenyan media last week that Marangach had bought five litres of petrol then hid out in a chicken coop before the attack.

“He poured the petrol and lit her on fire. When she called her sister to help, he threatened her with a machete and she ran away.”

The police said the couple had “constantly had family wrangles”.

Violence against women is widespread in Kenya, which saw 725 femicide cases in 2022 alone, according to the latest UN figures.

A 2023 report by Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics found 34 percent of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.

Cheptegei’s death follows that of record-breaking Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop in 2021 and Kenyan-born Bahrain athlete Damaris Mutua the following year.

In both cases, their ex-partners were implicated in their deaths.

Tirop’s estranged partner, who denies murdering her, is on trial.

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