Nairobi, Kenya

Thursday, September 05, 2024

The 33-year-old Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who competed in the 44th Paris Olympics marathon, died at 05:30 (02:30 GMT) on Thursday, burned to death by a man presented as her companion.

With “over 80%” of her body burnt, “hopes of recovery were slim” and she succumbed to “multiple organ failure”, explained Kimani Mbugua, doctor in charge of the intensive care unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in the town of Eldoret.

She had been hospitalized on Sunday after being doused with petrol and set ablaze in her home by the suspect, identified as Dickson Ndiema Marangach, as she returned from church with her children.

The marathon runner lived with her sister and two daughters, aged 9 and 11 according to the Kenyan daily The Standard, in a house she had built in Endebess, the western Kenyan town where she trained, 25 kilometers from the Ugandan border.

A police report described the athlete and the suspect as “a couple who had constant family disputes”.

According to Rebecca Cheptegei’s father, the attack stemmed from a dispute over the land his daughter had bought to build her home.

– It’s a feminicide”-

The news of her death immediately aroused strong emotions in Uganda and Kenya.“This tragedy is a powerful reminder that we must do more to combat gender-based violence in our society, which has emerged in elite sporting circles in recent years,” said Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen in a statement.

Donald Rukare, president of the Ugandan Olympic Committee, denounced “a cowardly and senseless act” in a message on X, saying “We strongly condemn violence against women”.

“Rebecca Cheptegei is dead. We speak your name from the land of the living. Rest in peace. Yes, this is a feminicide. We must put an end to feminicides“, also reacted Njeri Migwi on X, co-founder of the ‘Usikimye’ association (”Don’t remain silent” in Swahili), a shelter for victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

This death joins those of many other women in Kenya, where 152 feminicides were recorded in 2023 by the organization Femicide Count Kenya, which stresses that “the real number is certainly higher” as it is not aware of all cases in the country.

Kenya’s athletics world has been particularly hard hit by such violence in recent years.

– Agnes Tirop, the trigger –

Kenyan-born Romanian athlete Joan Chelimo said she was “deeply upset and outraged by (this) horrific attack”, in a message on Instagram.

“This senseless violence must stop. As an athlete and campaigner against gender-based violence, my commitment to raising awareness and working for a future where everyone can live without fear of violence remains unwavering,” adds the European half-marathon runner-up, who co-founded the Tirop’s Angels association, set up in Kenya by athletes to combat violence against women after the death of Agnes Tirop.

In October 2021, the murder of this promising 25-year-old athlete, double world bronze medallist in the 10,000 m (2017, 2019) and 4th at the Tokyo Olympics in the 5,000 m, had shaken the world of athletics in Kenya, where the sport is king.

The young woman had been found stabbed to death at her home in Iten, a famous training ground for long-distance running on the plateaus of the Rift Valley.

Her husband, Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich, is on trial for murder. He denies the charges. His trial is underway.

In April 2022, another Bahraini athlete of Kenyan origin, Damaris Mutua, was found dead in Iten. Her boyfriend is suspected of killing her.

Humaniterre with AFP

Photo credit – AFP