Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who competed in the Paris Olympics in August, was between life and death on Tuesday, burned “more than 80%” after her partner tried to set her on fire in western Kenya.
The tragedy took place on Sunday afternoon.
At around 2:00 p.m. local time (11:00 a.m. GMT), the 33-year-old athlete’s Kenyan partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, broke into her home in Endebess, a town in Trans-Nzoia County (west), while she was at church with her children, according to a police report seen by AFP.
When they returned, he “poured gasoline on Rebecca before setting her on fire,” the report said, adding that the man was also burned by the flames.
There was no information about the condition of the children. The motive for the attack was not known.
“Cheptegei is in intensive care in critical condition after suffering more than 80 percent burns,” Owen Menach, acting director of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, a major Rift Valley town where she is being treated, told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
“The burns were really very serious, some of them are very deep, especially in the back muscles,” he said, assuring: “We are doing everything we can to save his life.”
His partner, hospitalized in the same establishment, has 30% burns, he also indicated.
The father and sister of the athlete, who finished 44th in the Olympic marathon, are present on site in Eldoret.
– “Totally unacceptable” –
Rebecca Cheptegei had settled in Endebess, a town 25 kilometres from the Ugandan border where she trained, after buying land and building a house there, according to Kenyan media.
She and Dickson Ndiema Marangach were “a couple who constantly had family disputes,” the police report said, adding that “a 5-litre jerrycan, a bag and a black cap believed to belong to Dickson and a burnt mobile phone believed to belong to Rebecca were found” at the scene of the tragedy.
Uganda Olympic Committee president Donald Rukare called for prayers for the marathon runner’s “full recovery”.
“Let’s all say NO to violence, especially against women. It is totally unacceptable and we condemn this totally unjustified attack. Together, let’s stand up against violence,” he wrote in a message on X.
In recent years, several tragedies have cast a shadow over the world of athletics in Kenya.
In April 2022, the body of a Bahraini athlete of Kenyan origin, Damaris Mutua, was found in Iten, a famous training ground for long-distance running on the plateaus of the Rift Valley. Her partner is suspected of having killed her.
In October 2021, promising 25-year-old athlete Agnes Tirop, double world bronze medalist in the 10,000m (2017, 2019) and 4th in the Tokyo Olympics in the 5,000m, was found stabbed to death at her home in Iten.
Her husband Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich is being prosecuted for murder. He denies the charges. His trial is ongoing.
According to a study by the Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) published in January 2023, 34% of women living in Kenya have experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
Married women “are much more likely to have experienced violence,” the study found, noting that 41 percent of married women reported such abuse compared to 20 percent of single women.
ho-aik-rbu/sva/bde
