Man accused of killing Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei ‘dies from burns’

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The former partner of the Ugandan Olympic athlete accused of her murder by setting her alight has died in hospital from burns sustained during the attack.

Rebecca Cheptegei , 33, who competed in the marathon at the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75 per cent of her body in the 1 September attack and died four days later at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.

Her boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, died on Monday said Daniel Lang’at, a spokesperson for the hospital.

“This guy is dead because he killed my daughter. He has died because of his actions,” Cheptegei’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, told Reuters.

Cheptegei is the third elite sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Her death has put the spotlight again on domestic violence in the East African country.

Police in northwest Kenya, where Cheptegei lived and trained, confirmed an investigation into her death is underway. Authorities said Cheptegei and her former boyfriend were heard arguing over land before she was set on fire.

The athlete is due to be buried on Saturday in Uganda. She will be given a military burial. Top officials from both Kenya and Uganda are expected to attend the funeral.

A post-mortem examination on the body of Cheptegei is due to be carried at the hospital on Wednesday. Mr Cheptegei said the family hoped that the post-mortem would “help us to know what led to her death”.

“The hospital asked us to have the post-mortem done and we accepted because it will help us to know what led to her death and also it will be part of closure for us as we mourn her death,” he said.

In 2021, Agnes Tirop, a rising athletics star in Kenya and two-time World Championship bronze medallist, was found dead in her home with stab wounds to her neck. Her husband was charged with her murder but pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing.

In 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee Mutua was found dead with a post-mortem examination report stating that she was strangled. Mutua’s boyfriend was identified as the main suspect and police are still searching for him.

Tirop’s death at the age of 25 shocked Kenya and led to current and former athletes setting up the non-profit charity foundation Tirop’s Angels to combat domestic violence against women and girls.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic murder of Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei,” a social media post from Tirop’s Angels said last week. “Another life lost to gender-based violence. Tirop’s Angels condemns this horrific act and calls for swift justice.”