Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died after she was set on fire in a horrific attack allegedly carried out be her ex-boyfriend.
The Ugandan athlete and mother-of-two suffered 80 per cent burns in the suspected petrol attack in Kenya on Sunday.
The 33-year-old was allegedly set on fire by a former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, at her home in western Trans Nzoia County.
Reports said Cheptegei had just returned from church with her two daughters, thought to be aged nine and 11, when she was attacked on Sunday afternoon.
One of the daughters told Kenyan news outlet The Standard how she "tried to run to the rescue of my mother", but had been kicked by the attacker.
"I immediately cried out for help, attracting a neighbour who tried to extinguish the flames with water, but it was not possible," she said.
Local police chief Jeremiah ole Kosiom was quoted as saying: “The couple were heard quarrelling outside their house. During the altercation, the boyfriend was seen pouring a liquid on the woman before burning her.
“The [suspect] is believed to have sneaked into the compound at around 2pm on Sunday while the woman and the children were in church. Upon returning, [the suspect] who had procured petrol, began pouring it on Rebecca before he set her a blaze.
“The two were rescued by neighbours who put out the fire and rushed them to hospital".
Police are said to have discovered a five-litre jerry can that had contained petrol at the scene, along with a burned phone, according to Kenya's Nation newspaper.
Cheptegei - who finished 44th in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympic Games last month - spent days in a critical condition at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, in western Kenya.
Her death was announced on Thursday morning.
Cheptegei "passed today morning at 5:30 am after her organs failed," said Owen Menach, senior director of clinical services at the hospital.
BREAKING NEWS💔💔
— UGANDA ATHLETICS FEDERATION🇺🇬🇺🇬 UAF (@UgaAthletics2) September 5, 2024
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei early this morning who tragically fell victim to domestic violence. As a federation, we condemn such acts and call for justice. May her soul rest In Peace. pic.twitter.com/ZdxmZ3wDuE
Marangach is also understood to have sustained serious burns to 30 per cent of his body, and was said to remain in hospital on Thursday.
Cheptegei's father, Joseph Cheptegei, told Kenya's The Standard: "Rebecca was outside the house when the suspect appeared and immediately poured petrol on her before lighting the fire."
He said his daughter had bought land in Trans Nzoia to be near Kenya's many athletics training centres.
He said she and Marangach had been involved in "wrangles...concerning properties" that had led to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations opening a case.
Mr Cheptegei said his daughter had a husband who lives in Uganda, and clarified her husband is not the suspect.
Announcing Cheptegei's death on social media on Thursday morning, the Uganda Athletics Federation said: “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei early this morning who tragically fell victim to domestic violence,” it read.
“As a federation, we condemn such acts and call for justice. May her soul rest In Peace.”
Peter Ogwang, Uganda's minister of state for sports, said Kenyan authorities were investigating the killing, which has shone a spotlight on violence experienced by women in the East African nation.
Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen described Cheptegei's death as a loss "to the entire region".
"This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to combat gender-based violence in our society, which in recent years has reared its ugly head in elite sporting circles," he said in a statement.
Nearly 34 per cent of Kenyan girls and women aged 15 to 49 have suffered physical violence, according to government data. The 2022 survey found married women were particular risk - with 41 per cent having faced violence.
A report by UN Women and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said that in 2022, African countries collectively recorded the largest number of killings of women, both in absolute terms and relative to the size of the continent's female population.
Joan Chelimo, one of the founders of non-profit Tirop's Angels, told news agency Reuters that female athletes were at high risk of exploitation and violence at the hands of men drawn to their money.
"They get into these traps of predators who pose in their lives as lovers," she said.
Tirop's Angels was set up to combat domestic violence, following the 2021 killing of 25-year-old Olympian Agnes Tirop.
The runner, a rising star in Kenya's highly competitive athletics scene, was found dead in her home in the town of Iten, with multiple stab wounds to the neck.
Ibrahim Rotich, her husband, was charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. The case is ongoing.
