The man accused of killing Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire has also died, according to the hospital where they were both treated.
Cheptegei’s former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, died on Monday evening at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret after being admitted to intensive care following Cheptegei’s attack.
The death was initially reported by both The times And The star in Kenya, before a hospital spokesperson confirmed the news.
Ndiema died at 7:50 p.m. (4:50 p.m. BST) on Monday, said Daniel Lang’at, a spokesperson for the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
“He died from his injuries and the burns he suffered,” Lang’at told Reuters. Local media reported that he suffered 30 percent burns when he attacked Cheptegei as she returned from church with her children.
World Athletics has pledged to study how to protect female athletes following Cheptegei’s death.
Violence against women is shockingly common in Kenya
A national survey in 2022 found that more than a third of women in Kenya had experienced physical violence and Cheptegei’s death followed the killing of two other runners – Damaris Mutua and Agnes Tirop – at the same running center in foot of the Rift Valley in recent years.
Rights groups say female athletes in Kenya, where many international runners train in the highlands, are at high risk of exploitation and violence from men lured by their women’s money. price, which far exceeds local income.
“Justice really would have been for him to sit in prison and think about what he had done. This is not positive news at all,” said Viola Cheptoo, co-founder of Tirop’s Angels, a support group for survivors of domestic violence in Kenya’s sporting community.
“The shock of Rebecca’s death is still fresh,” Cheptoo told Reuters.
A report filed by a local administrator said Cheptegei – who finished 14th in the marathon at last year’s World Championships and 44th at the Olympics – and his attacker were fighting over a plot of land in Trans Nzoia County.
She suffered multiple organ failure after suffering 80 per cent burns following the attack. His funeral, which will include a military burial, will take place on Saturday in Uganda.
“He started pouring gasoline on her back”
Rebecca’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, said she was returning from church with her two children when she was attacked. “He started pouring gasoline on the girl as she ran away,” he said. “He poured it on his back before lighting it on fire. She shouted for her younger sister to get her a blanket, but the man tripped the girl and threatened her with a machete, causing her to run away. »
Lord Coe, President of World Athletics, said: “Our sport has lost a talented athlete in the most tragic and unthinkable circumstances. Rebecca was an incredibly versatile runner who still had a lot to give on the roads, mountains and cross-country trails.
“I have been in contact with our council members in Africa to see how we can help, not only in our capacity as the governing body of the sport in which Rebecca competed, but also to assess how our safeguarding policies could be enhanced to include abuse outside of sport, and bring together stakeholders from all areas of athletics to join forces to protect our female athletes to the best of our abilities from abuse of all kinds.