Nine days after the alleged attack by Ndiema Dickson on Olympic athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei, the ex-boyfriend of Ms Cheptegei is believed to have died following burns he sustained during the attack on Tuesday.
The incident of his demise was confirmed on Monday evening at the Intensive Care Unit of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya where he was receiving treatment.
Kennedy Apindi, a criminal investigation officer with western Kenya’s Trans-Nzoia police reported that Dickson was under police watch at the hospital amid treatment owing to the fact that there were pending murder charges on him.
Trans-Nzoia police county said that Ndiema set Cheptegei on fire in a violent attack weeks after the 33-year-old long distance runner finished competing at the Paris Olympics, finishing 44th place in the women’s marathon category.
Ms Cheptegei died at the same hospital a few days after her alleged attack and this put a spotlight on domestic violence against women and female athletes in Kenya, where she was based.
”We were waiting for him to recover for him to be charged” Apindi said, adding that Dickson was also under investigation for the ownership dispute with Ms Cheptegei over a land and a house.
The victim’s father told the press in an interview that Dickson set his daughter on fire in front of her daughters. He added that Ms Cheptegei had previously reported Dickson for domestic violence, but the police were slow to take action. She sustained burns on roughly 80% of her body according to The Star, a Kenyan News outlet, and will be buried in Uganda on Saturday.
Dickson sustained burns on 40% of his body and died from respiratory failure caused by “severe airways burns” and sepsis, as reported by the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Following her death, a city in Paris has planned to name a sports venue in her honor as she holds Uganda’s women’s marathon record and served as a sergeant in the Uganda People’s Defense Forces. She moved to Kenya because of the level of violence in her home town and bought a land near the training grounds in Eldoret.
Kenya’s sports cabinet Secretary, Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen said her death was “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.”
Paris 2024 organizers paid tribute to Cheptegei on Sunday, calling her “a victim of femicide,” asking the Paralympics audience at the invalided venue in Paris to clap for her for one minute.
