Former partner accused of setting athlete alight dies

The former partner of the Ugandan Olympic athlete accused of her murder by setting her alight has died in hospital from burns sustained during the attack.

- TOM WATLING

Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the marathon at the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75 per cent of her body in the 1 September attack and died four days later at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.

Her boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, died on Monday said Daniel Lang’at, a spokesperson for the hospital.

“This guy is dead because he killed my daughter. He has died because of his actions,” Cheptegei’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, told Reuters.

Cheptegei is the third elite sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Her death has put the spotlight again on domestic violence in the East African country.