Rebecca Cheptegei’s Ex-Partner and Alleged Killer Dickson Ndiema Dies
Following Dickson Ndiema’s death from burns sustained during his attack, the police have dropped the murder case against him and an inquest into the deaths has been opened.
Rebecca Cheptegei of Team Uganda (center) crosses the Szechenyi Chain Bridge in the Women's Marathon during day eight of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023 on August 26, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.
Dickson Ndiema Marangach, former partner of Kenya-based Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, has died from burns sustained during an attack that had claimed Cheptegei’s life. On September 1, Ndiema set 33-year-old Cheptegei on fire in a shocking act that rattled the athletics world and sparked widespread outrage.
Cheptegei was a prominent marathon runner who represented Uganda in international competitions, including the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she finished 44th. She set a national marathon record of 2:22:47 and won the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Ndiema allegedly ambushed Cheptegei as she returned home from church in Western Kenya. Armed with a five-liter can of petrol, Ndiema doused Cheptegei and set her ablaze. Some of the fuel splashed onto Ndiema, causing burns that led to his death on Monday evening at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, where he was receiving treatment in the ICU.
Cheptegei suffered burns covering 75 percent of her body and succumbed to her injuries days after hospitalization. According to the BBC, Ndiema suffered burns covering 40 percent of his body.
Her murder renewed discussions about gender-based violence in Kenya and East Africa, being the third female athlete killed by a partner in the past three years, following Agnes Tirop and Damaris Muthee Mutua.
“If 32 women were killed by a disease in a month, the government would declare a national disaster,” Kenyan feminist activist Njeri Migwi told AP earlier this year. In January alone this year, 32 women in Kenya died by femicide.
With Ndiema’s passing, the murder case has been dropped, and an inquest into the deaths will commence.
After Cheptegei’s passing, marathon runners Grace Kahura-Malang and Viola Cheptoo Lagat, one of the founding members of Tirop’s Angels, an NGO named after Agnes Tirop to combat gender-based violence in Kenya, shared a joint Instagram post addressing the broader issue of violence against female athletes. “These cases are making headlines because of their global achievements, but countless other women and girls face similar suffering in silence. It’s time for both society and law enforcement to take stronger measures to condemn and end gender-based violence,” the post read.
Tirop’s Angels shared this sentiment, stating on their Instagram after news of Ndiema’s death filtered in, “While this situation has taken another unexpected turn,” in response to Ndiema’s death, “our focus remains on the larger issue at hand — ending gender-based violence and supporting survivors and their families.”
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