TRAGIC END TO UGANDAN ATHLETE’S MURDER CASE AS ATTACKER DIES FROM BURNS

Tue 10 September 2024:

Dickson Ndiema Marangach, the former boyfriend of Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, has died from burns sustained during the horrific attack in which he is accused of setting her on fire. The Kenyan hospital treating him confirmed his death on Monday evening. Marangach reportedly suffered 30% burns after dousing Cheptegei with petrol and setting her alight as she returned home from church with her children on September 1.

Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the marathon at the Paris Olympics and finished 44th, endured burns to over 75% of her body and tragically died four days later at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya—the same facility where Marangach passed away.

Olympic Marathon Runner Rebecca Cheptegei (Left) Pictured With Her Ex-Boyfriend Dickson Ndiema (Right).

“He died from his injuries, the burns he sustained,” said hospital spokesperson Daniel Lang’at. The attack on Cheptegei has once again drawn attention to the rising issue of domestic violence in Kenya, especially among elite athletes. Cheptegei’s murder marks the third killing of a prominent sportswoman in Kenya since October 2021.

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In Kenya, domestic violence is a pervasive issue, with government statistics revealing that 34% of girls and women aged 15-49 have experienced physical abuse. Among married women, this figure rises to 41%. Globally, the UN Women reports that a woman is killed by a family member every 11 minutes.

“Justice really would have been for him to sit in jail and think about what he had done. This is not positive news whatsoever,” said Viola Cheptoo, co-founder of Tirop’s Angels, a support group for survivors of domestic violence within Kenya’s athletic community. Cheptoo expressed the continued shock over Cheptegei’s death, which follows the murder of rising star Agnes Tirop in 2021 by her husband, Ibrahim Rotich, who is currently facing trial for her death.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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