Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei dies at 33 after partner attacks her with gasoline

Rebecca Cheptegei, a Ugandan long-distance runner who competed in the women’s marathon at the last Summer Olympics in Paris, has died days after being doused in petrol and set on fire by her partner. She was 33.

Cheptegei was attacked on Monday at her home in Trans Nzoia County. Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom told the media that Cheptegei’s partner, Dickson Ndiema, had bought a can of petrol, poured it on her during an argument and then set it on fire.

Cheptegei was rushed to Moi Teaching Hospital in Eldoret town. She arrived sedated with burns over 80 per cent of her body. Hospital spokesman Owen Menach said on Thursday that Cheptegei had died earlier in the morning from multiple organ failure.

Ndiema also suffered burns and is receiving treatment at the same hospital.

Rebecca’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, said via the Associated Press that his daughter has been “very supportive” of him and that he wants his murderer to be brought to justice.

“As things stand, the criminal who harmed my daughter is a murderer and I have yet to see what the security officials are doing,” he said. “He is still free and could even flee.”

The statistics on violence against women in Kenya, particularly domestic violence, are staggering. According to the government, Nearly 34% of Kenyan girls and women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence, rising to 41% among married women.

Cheptegei is the third Ugandan athlete since 2021 to die from an intimate partner attack. Aspiring runner Agnes Tirop, just 25, was found dead at her home in 2021 from multiple stab wounds. The case is ongoing, but her husband Ibrahim Rotich has been charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. In 2022, the decomposing body of Ugandan-born Bahraini runner Damaris Muthee was found at the home of an Ethiopian runner. An autopsy report revealed that she had been strangled. The Ethiopian runner is the prime suspect in her murder, but he has yet to be apprehended.

James Kirwa, another Ugandan athlete who visited Cheptegai in hospital, spoke highly of his close friend, telling the BBC that she was “a very kind person. She helped us all, even financially, and she brought me some sports shoes when she came back from the Olympics. She was like a big sister to me.”