Rebecca Cheptegei, a 33 years old Ugandan Olympic athlete was involved in a brutal attack on Sunday which left her with burns of up to 80 percent of her body. The barbaric act was carried out by her ex-boyfriend. According to medical officials she was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. The facility’s acting Director, Dr Owen Menach on Tuesday night, September 3, confirmed the news of her demise.
“Unfortunately, we lost her after all her organs failed last night,” he said.
According to Kenyan newspaper, The Star, the horrific incident occurred just weeks after Cheptegei had taken part in the marathon at the Paris Olympics. Cheptegei, who trained in Kenya, launched her international career at 19, competing for Uganda in the junior category of the 2010 World Cross Country Championships. She later transitioned to road racing, making her marathon debut in 2021. She is the third Ugandan athlete that has been killed by a partner.
As confirmed by the Kenyan Police Force she was attacked at her apartment in Western Trans Nzoia County, close to the Ugandan border. She had relocated to the area in order to be closer to superior training facilities. Her father, Joseph Cheptegei claimed that she and her ex-boyfriend, Dickson were in a brawl over ownership of her land at Endebes in Trans Nzoia shortly before he set her ablaze ton Sunday. According to Joseph, “they were just friends and I wonder why he wanted to take away things belonging to my daughter.” Joseph also revealed that his daughter’s two kids belonged to another man living in Uganda.
He further claimed that the two who had been separated for a long time had an outstanding case which was currently under investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kenya.
Police Commander, Jeremiah Ole Kosiom believes that Dickson sneaked into his daughter’s home to stage the attack, “the boyfriend is believed to have sneaked into the compound at around 2pm on Sunday while the woman and the children were in Church,” he said, as reported by the Kenyan newspaper, The Standard.
