ELDORET, Kenya, Sept 10 (Askume) – The man accused of spraying gasoline and setting fire to Olympic track and field athlete Rebecca Cheputegui has been hospitalized in Uganda, a hospital official said on Tuesday, adding that she died after the fatal attack and burning.
Cheptegei, 33, a Paris Olympic marathon participant, suffered burns over more than 75% of his body in the September 1 attack and died four days later .
Her ex-boyfriend Dickson Ndiema Marangach died at 18:30 (1530 GMT) on Sunday, said Philip Kirwa, chief executive of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, western Kenya. The hospital is located at the same place where Malangach was treated and where Cheptegei died.
“He suffered respiratory failure due to severe tracheitis and sepsis, which ultimately led to his death,” Kilwa said in a statement.
Kilwa said that following the Cheptegei attack, more than 41% of Mlangazi’s skin was burned.
Cheptegei, who finished 44th in Paris, is the third top player to die in Kenya since October 2021. His deathDrawing attention to domestic violence in the East African country , particularly within its running community.
“This man died because he killed my daughter. He died because of his actions,” Cheptegei’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, told Askume.
Human rights groups say Kenya’s female athletes are at risk of exploitation and violence by men lured by prize money, and many international runners train in Kenya’s high-altitude mountains, where men pose a far greater threat than income.
Viola Cheptoo, co-founder of Tyrop’s Angels, a support group for survivors of domestic violence in Kenyan sport, said: “Real justice would be for him to go to jail and reckon with what he did.”
“Rebecca’s death is shocking,” Cheputo told Askume.
Cheptew co-founded the Tirop Angels in memory of Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed multiple times in the neck at her home in Etontown.
Tirop’s husband, Ibrahim Rotich, was accused of her murder and has pleaded not guilty. The case is still ongoing.
According to 2022 government data, about 34% of Kenyan girls and women aged 15–49 experience physical violence , with married women particularly at risk. A 2022 survey found that 41% of married women faced violence.
According to a study conducted by UN Women in 2023, every 11 minutes a woman around the world is murdered by a member of her family.
Uganda Olympic Committee secretary general Beatrice Aikoru told Askume: “I don’t want to be harmful to anyone but I certainly want her to face the law and set an example for others to be targeted in this way. Women’s aggression must stop.
