NAIROBI: Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei died in Kenya on Thursday (Sep 5), 4 days after being set on hearth by her boyfriend in an assault in her house.
It was the newest horrific incident of gender-based violence within the East African nation, the place activists have warned of a femicide epidemic.
The 33-year-old long-distance runner died at about 5.30am (2.30am GMT), the physician treating her at a hospital in Eldoret in western Kenya informed reporters.
“Her accidents have been in depth and coated most components of her physique. It led to a number of organ failure,” stated Kimani Mbugua, head of the intensive care unit on the Moi Educating and Referral Hospital.
“We tried our greatest however we didn’t succeed. her age and the over 80 per cent burns she suffered, the hope of restoration was slim.”
In accordance with police, a person recognized as Cheptegei’s accomplice, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, doused her with petrol and set her alight final Sunday at her house in Endebess within the western county of Trans-Nzoia.
Kenyan media reviews stated her two younger daughters had witnessed the brutal assault.
It passed off simply weeks after Cheptegei had taken half within the marathon on the Paris Olympics, the place she completed in forty fourth place.
Marangach was additionally injured within the incident, sustaining 30 per cent burns. His present situation just isn’t recognized.
“COWARDLY AND SENSELESS ACT”
The assault on Cheptegei made international headlines and has been broadly condemned, whereas tributes poured in from the athletics group on Thursday.
Uganda Olympic Committee chief Donald Rukare stated she had died “following a vicious assault by her boyfriend”.
“This was a cowardly and mindless act that has led to the lack of an incredible athlete. Her legacy will proceed to endure.”
The Uganda Athletics Federation stated on X it was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life of Cheptegei, “who tragically fell sufferer to home violence”.
“As a federation, we condemn such acts and name for justice.”
The Kenya Nationwide Olympic Committee stated it prolonged its “deepest condolences” to the Ugandan athletics group and Cheptegei’s household and pals, describing her loss of life as a “profound loss”.
“Rebecca’s expertise and perseverance as Uganda’s ladies’s marathon report holder and a Paris 2024 Olympian will all the time be remembered and celebrated,” it stated.
Police stated Marangach had sneaked into Cheptegei’s house close to the border with Uganda on Sunday afternoon whereas she was at church along with her two youngsters.
A police report stated they have been a pair who “continually had household wrangles”.
Her father Joseph Cheptegei informed reporters Thursday that the property the place she lived along with her sister and two daughters was the “supply of the issues” between the pair.
He had informed Kenyan media earlier this week that Marangach had purchased 5 litres of petrol and hid out in a rooster coop earlier than the assault.
“He poured the petrol and lit her on hearth. When she known as her sister to assist, he threatened her with a machete and she or he ran away.”
“I CRIED FOR HELP”
Kenya’s the Commonplace newspaper reported that Cheptegei’s daughters had witnessed the assault.
“He kicked me whereas I attempted to run to the rescue of my mom,” it reported one of many ladies as saying.
“I instantly cried out for assist, attracting a neighbour who tried to extinguish the flames with water, nevertheless it was not doable.”
The assault has once more thrown a highlight on home violence in Kenya.
Njeri Wa Migwi, who based Usikimye, an organisation that fights gender-based violence, stated of Cheptegei’s loss of life: “Sure that is femicide. We should finish femicide.”
The assault comes two years after Kenyan-born athlete Damaris Mutua was discovered lifeless in Iten, a world-famous working hub within the Rift Valley.
And in 2021, record-breaking Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop, 25, was discovered stabbed to loss of life at her house in Iten. Her estranged husband is on trial over her homicide and has denied the costs.
Joan Chelimo, athlete and cofounder of Tirop’s Angels, a gaggle set as much as fight gender-based violence after Tirop’s loss of life, stated she was “deeply shaken and outraged” by the assault on Cheptegei.
“This mindless violence should finish.”
Newest figures from the Kenya Nationwide Bureau of Statistics printed in January 2023 discovered that 34 per cent of girls had skilled bodily violence for the reason that age of 15.
In 2022 alone, Kenya recorded 725 femicide instances, in response to a United Nations report, the very best quantity since information assortment started in 2015.
