The ex-boyfriend accused of killing Rebecca Cheptegei in a fiery gasoline attack died on Monday from burns he sustained in the same fire.
Dickson Ndiema, 32, died late Monday night at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the same medical facility in Eldoret city in Kenya where Cheptegei was being treated.
Cheptegei died from multiple organ failure on Thursday after suffering burns to 80 percent of her body.
Ndiema was also injured in the attack when he reportedly doused Cheptegei with gasoline and lit her on fire. He was treated for burns to over 30 percent of his body and died from respiratory failure, according to hospital officials.
Cheptegei competed for Uganda in the Paris Olympics in August. She finished in 44th place in the women’s marathon and returned home after the Games. According to Kenyan police, on September 1, Ndiema entered her home with a container of gasoline.
Cheptegei’s father Joseph, said his daughter bought land in the Trans Nzoia region, which near Uganda and Kenya’s border. She later built a house there in order to be closer training facilities. However, a police report filed by Cheptegei against Ndiema reveled that the two were in a dispute over the land and neighbors said they heard an argument before the fire.
An autopsy is expected to be performed on Cheptegei’s body on Wednesday and she will receive full military honors at a funeral on Saturday in Bukwo, Uganda.
The incident has brought renewed spotlight to cases of violence against women in East Africa — and Kenya in particular.
According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, violence against women is passed off as a common occurrence. The report states in Kenya 42 percent of women, along with 36 percent of men, believe that it is justified for a man to hit a women in some circumstances.
The organization also noted in 2023 that globally, every 11 minutes a females is killed by a relative.
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