The previous boyfriend of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who killed her by setting her on fireplace, has himself died from burns sustained within the assault, a Kenyan hospital official has mentioned.
Dickson Ndiema ambushed the marathon runner as she returned dwelling from church greater than every week in the past. He then doused her with petrol and set her ablaze.
Native directors mentioned the 2 had been in battle over a small piece of land in north-west Kenya, the place Cheptegei lived and educated.
Ndiema died on Monday evening on the intensive care unit, the place in accordance with the hospital, he had been admitted with burns on greater than 40% of his physique.
“He developed respiratory failure on account of the extreme airway burns and sepsis that led to his eventual demise on Monday night at 18:30 hours [15:30 GMT] regardless of life-saving measures,” a press launch from Moi Educating and Referral Hospital mentioned.
Cheptegei died final Thursday – 4 days after she was attacked. She suffered burns to greater than 80% of her physique.
Neighbours mentioned that on the day of the assault, they heard screams earlier than Cheptegei got here operating in direction of them shouting for assist.
Native media reported that Ndiema had sneaked into Cheptegei’s dwelling in western Kenya’s Trans Nzoia county with a five-litre jerrycan stuffed with petrol.
A few of the gasoline he poured on Cheptegei splashed onto his personal physique, in accordance with experiences. In consequence, Ndiema obtained caught within the fireplace after he set his former companion alight.
Ndiema was to face prices as police mentioned they have been treating Cheptegei’s demise as homicide, with the previous boyfriend named as the primary suspect.
However now that Ndiema has died, the prison case has been dropped and an inquest into the 2 deaths shall be opened as a substitute.
Each Ndiema and Cheptegei have been admitted to Moi Hospital earlier than their deaths.
Cheptegei’s demise shocked individuals internationally, with fellow Ugandans saying she was an inspiration to them.
The 33-year-old Olympian was the third feminine athlete to be killed in Kenya during the last three years. In every case, present or former romantic companions have been named as the primary suspects by police.
In 2021, world-record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to demise and 6 months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.
“I do not want dangerous issues on anybody, however in fact I might have beloved for him to face the regulation for example for others in order that these assaults on ladies can cease,” Beatrice Ayikoru, secretary-general of the Uganda Olympic Committee, advised the Reuters information company.
Some observers are saying that feminine athletes have gotten more and more susceptible.
“[This is] as a result of they go towards conventional gender norms the place the girl is simply within the kitchen and simply cooking and taking good care of youngsters. However now feminine athletes have gotten extra impartial, financially impartial,” Joan Chelimo, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels to assist spotlight the problem of violence towards ladies.
Cheptegei was born on the Kenyan facet of the Kenya-Uganda border, however selected to cross over and signify Uganda to chase her athletics dream when she didn’t get a breakthrough in Kenya.
When she first obtained into operating, she joined the Uganda Folks’s Defence Forces in 2008 and rose to sergeant rank.
Her profession included competing on this yr’s Paris Olympics. Though she got here forty fourth within the marathon, individuals in her dwelling space known as her “champion”.
She additionally received gold on the World Mountain and Path Working Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.
Cheptegei is about to be buried on Saturday at her ancestral dwelling in Bukwo, Uganda.
Assaults on ladies have grow to be a serious concern in Kenya. In 2022 not less than 34% of girls mentioned they’d skilled bodily violence, in accordance with a nationwide survey.
“We do not need this to occur to some other girl, whether or not an athlete or from the village, or a younger lady,” Rachel Kamweru, a spokesperson the the federal government’s division for gender and affirmative motion, advised the BBC.