Man accused of setting Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei on fire dies in hospital

The man accused of killing Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei by dousing her in petrol and setting her alight has also died, according to the hospital where they were both treated.

Cheptegei’s former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, died at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret on Monday night after being admitted to intensive care following the attack on Cheptegei.

The death was initially reported by both The Times and The Star in Kenya, before a spokesperson for the hospital confirmed the news.

Ndiema died at 7.50pm (4.50pm BST) on Monday, said Daniel Lang’at, a spokesperson for Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

“He died from his injuries, the burns he sustained,” Lang’at told Reuters. Local media reported that he had suffered 30 per cent burns when he assaulted Cheptegei as she was returning home from church with her children.

World Athletics have pledged to investigate how they can protect female athletes following Cheptegei’s death.

Violence on females shockingly common in Kenya

A national survey in 2022 found that more than a third of women in Kenya had experienced physical violence and Cheptegei’s death followed the killing of two other runners — Damaris Mutua and Agnes Tirop — in the same Rift Valley running hub in recent years.

Rights groups say female athletes in Kenya, where many international runners train in the high-altitude highlands, are at a high risk of exploitation and violence at the hands of men drawn to their prize money, which far exceeds local incomes.

“Justice really would have been for him to sit in jail and think about what he had done. This is not positive news whatsoever,” said Viola Cheptoo, co-founder of Tirop’s Angels, a support group for survivors of domestic violence in Kenya’s athletic community.

“The shock of Rebecca’s death is still fresh,” Cheptoo told Reuters.

A report filed by a local administrator said that Cheptegei — who finished 14th in the marathon at last year’s World Championships and 44th at the Olympics — and her attacker had been wrangling over a piece of land in Trans Nzoia county.

She suffered multiple-organ failure after being left with 80 per cent burns following the attack. Her funeral, which will include a military burial, will take place in Uganda on Saturday.

‘He began pouring petrol on her back’

Rebecca’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, said that she had been returning from church with her two children when she was attacked. “He began pouring petrol on the girl as she was running away,” he said. “He poured it on her back before setting her ablaze. She shouted to her younger sister to bring her a blanket, but the man tripped the girl and threatened her with a machete, causing her to run away.”

Lord Coe, the president of World Athletics, said: “Our sport has lost a talented athlete in the most tragic and unthinkable circumstances. Rebecca was an incredibly versatile runner who still had lots left to give on the roads, mountains and cross-country trails.

“I have been in touch with our council members in Africa to see how we can help, not only in our capacity as governing body of the sport Rebecca competed in, but to assess how our safeguarding policies might be enhanced to include abuse outside of the sport, and bringing together stakeholders from all areas of athletics to combine forces to protect our female athletes to the best of our abilities from abuse of all kinds.”