The previous boyfriend of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who was accused of setting her on hearth, has died from burns sustained throughout the assault.
Cheptegei, 33, died final week after struggling burns to about 80 per cent of her physique. Her ex-partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, allegedly doused her in gasoline and set her ablaze over a land dispute. She had only recently competed within the marathon on the Paris Olympics.
Marangach succumbed to his personal burn accidents on Monday, in keeping with the Kenyan hospital the place he was being handled. About 30 per cent of his physique suffered burns after a number of the gasoline used within the assault splashed on him and he was additionally set on hearth, native media reported.
“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 regardless of life-saving measures,” a press launch from Moi Instructing and Referral Hospital mentioned, in keeping with the BBC.
The assault occurred on Sept. 1 in western Trans Nzoia County, the place Cheptegei lived close to the Kenya-Uganda border. Cheptegei competed for Uganda within the Olympics however she lived in Kenya. Her mother and father mentioned the long-distance runner purchased land in Trans Nzoia to be close to the county’s many athletic coaching centres.
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Marangach allegedly ambushed his former girlfriend in her home after she returned dwelling from church along with her kids, BBC Information studies. It’s believed he snuck into Cheptegei’s dwelling with a five-litre jerry can of gasoline after the couple had a falling out over the Trans Nzoia property.
Marangach was the primary suspect in Cheptegei’s homicide inquiry, however now that he too has died, the felony case has been dropped and authorities will lead an inquest into the 2 deaths as a substitute.
Cheptegei, who completed forty fourth in Paris, is the third elite sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Her demise has put the highlight on home violence within the East African nation, significantly inside its operating group.
Rights teams say feminine athletes in Kenya, the place many worldwide runners prepare within the high-altitude highlands, are at a excessive danger of exploitation and violence by the hands of males drawn to their prize cash, which far exceeds native incomes.
“Justice actually would have been for him to take a seat in jail and take into consideration what he had executed. This isn’t optimistic information by any means,” mentioned Viola Cheptoo, co-founder of Tirop’s Angels, a help group for survivors of home violence in Kenya’s athletic group.
“The shock of Rebecca’s demise continues to be contemporary,” Cheptoo informed Reuters.
Cheptoo co-founded Tirop’s Angels in reminiscence of Agnes Tirop, a rising star in Kenya’s extremely aggressive athletics scene, who was discovered lifeless in her dwelling within the city of Iten in October 2021, with a number of stab wounds to the neck.
Ibrahim Rotich, Tirop’s husband, was charged along with her homicide and has pleaded not responsible. The case is ongoing.
Practically 34 per cent of Kenyan women and girls aged 15-49 years have suffered bodily violence, in keeping with authorities information from 2022, with married ladies at explicit danger. The 2022 survey discovered that 41 per cent of married ladies had confronted violence.
Globally, a lady is killed by somebody in her family each 11 minutes, in keeping with a 2023 U.N. Ladies research.
— With information from Reuters
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