Ex-partner who killed Ugandan athlete dies from burns
The former boyfriend of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who fatally burned her, has also died from his own injuries.
According to a hospital official in Kenya, Dickson Ndiema attacked Cheptegei over a week ago as she was returning from church. He poured petrol on her and set her on fire.
Local officials reported that Ndiema and Cheptegei had been in dispute over a small piece of land in north-west Kenya, where Cheptegei lived and trained.
Ndiema passed away on Monday night in the intensive care unit, where he had been hospitalized with burns covering more than 40% of his body.
Cheptegei died last Thursday – four days after she was attacked. She suffered burns to more than 80% of her body.
Neighbors said that on the day of the attack, they heard screams before Cheptegei came running towards them shouting for help.
Local media reported that Ndiema had sneaked into Cheptegei’s home in western Kenya’s Trans Nzoia county with a five-litre jerry can full of petrol.
Some of the fuel he doused Cheptegei with splashed onto his own body, according to reports. As a result, Ndiema got caught in the fire after he set his former partner alight.
Ndiema was to face charges as police said they were treating Cheptegei’s death as murder, with the former boyfriend named as the main suspect.
But now that Ndiema has died, the criminal case has been dropped and an inquest into the two deaths will be opened instead.
Both Ndiema and Cheptegei were admitted to Moi Hospital before their deaths.
Cheptegei’s death shocked people across the world, with fellow Ugandans saying she was an inspiration to them.
The 33-year-old Olympian was the third athlete to be killed in Kenya over the last three years. In each case, current or former romantic partners were named as the main suspects by police.
In 2021, world-record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death and six months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.
Cheptegei was born on the Kenyan side of the Kenya-Uganda border, but chose to cross over and represent Uganda to chase her athletics dream when she did not get a breakthrough in Kenya.
When she first got into running, she joined the Uganda People’s Defence Forces in 2008 and rose to sergeant rank.
Her career included competing in this year’s Paris Olympics. Although she came 44th in the marathon, people in her home area called her “champion”.
She also won gold at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.
Cheptegei is set to be buried on Saturday at her ancestral home in Bukwo, Uganda.
Attacks on women have become a major concern in Kenya. In 2022 at least 34% of women said they had experienced physical violence, according to a national survey.