Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has been hospitalized after being set on fire by her Kenyan partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach.
Cheptegei, a participant in the 2024 Paris Olympics, is recovering at the Moi Teaching Referral Hospital alongside Marangach after a domestic dispute that resulted in burns covering over 75% of her body.
The incident occurred in the 33-year-old runner’s Kenyan home in Eldoret on Sunday afternoon, after Cheptegei returned from church service with her children.
According to the police report, Marangach gained entry to the home while they were in church before dousing her with a flammable liquid and setting her on fire.
Marangach also suffered burns in the blaze after he also caught fire, though it hasn’t yet been established whether he did so intentionally.
The couple were unstable and constantly argued. Police commander Jeremiah Ole Kosiom described the incident as a domestic dispute.
It is a story all too familiar in these areas, as several high-profile athletes have suffered from gender-based violence. In 2021, Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home.
The murder trial is still ongoing with Tirop’s estranged husband, Emmanuel Rotich, the main suspect in the case, a charge he has denied and his trial ongoing.
In 2022, Kenyan-Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee Mutua was found dead in a rental house in Iten town, with a pillow over her face.
A post-mortem confirmed she was strangled, and her alleged lover, Ethiopian Eskinder Hailemariam Folie, was the prime suspect in her murder.
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