EPAUgandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was once set ablaze by means of her former boyfriend and later died, is because of be buried in a state funeral on Saturday.
Dickson Ndiema attacked her with petrol slightly below a fortnight in the past outdoor her house in north-west Kenya, with regards to the place she skilled.
The 33-year-old’s killing, and its brutal nature, left her circle of relatives distraught and stunned many others the world over.
It underscored the prime ranges of violence towards ladies in Kenya and the truth that a number of feminine athletes had been sufferers in recent times.
Cheptegei died in health facility 4 days after the assault. Docs stated she had suffered burns on greater than 80% of her frame which “resulted in multi-organ failure”.
Ndiema, who was once additionally burned after one of the crucial gasoline splashed on his personal frame, died on Monday.
He attacked the mother-of-two after she returned from a provider at a church, the God’s Living Ministry.
The pastor there, Caroline Atieno, recalls a “superb… God-fearing particular person”.
After listening to about what had came about, she controlled to talk to Cheptegei at the telephone whilst she was once in health facility.
The athlete first requested about her youngsters, who had been each effective, the pastor informed the BBC’s Africa Day-to-day podcast.
Then Cheptegei mentioned her attacker: “You imply Dickson isn’t in a position to peer all I’ve achieved for him? He may just no longer have in mind even one or two issues I’ve achieved for him and forestall environment me on hearth? Why has he achieved this to me?”
ReutersCheptegei’s funeral is being held in Bukwo, house to her circle of relatives in Uganda and with regards to the Kenyan border.
On Friday, members of the family, pals and activists towards gender-based violence considered her coffin at a funeral house within the Kenyan the city of Eldoret, sooner than it was once pushed away.
Her mom, Agnes Cheptegei, protecting her face in anguish, was once dressed in a memento bag that the athlete won on the fresh Paris Olympics, the place she got here forty fourth within the marathon.
She was once wearing a T-shirt which had the slogan “being a girl will have to no longer be a loss of life sentence” revealed on it.
The mummy-of-two was once the 3rd feminine athlete to be killed in Kenya over the past 3 years. In every case, present or former romantic companions had been named as the principle suspects by means of police.
In 2021, world-record holder Agnes Tirop was once stabbed to loss of life and 6 months later Damaris Mutua was once strangled.
Assaults on ladies have develop into a big worry in Kenya. In 2022 no less than 34% of girls stated they’d skilled bodily violence, in line with a countrywide survey.
Some observers are pronouncing that feminine athletes are changing into more and more susceptible.
“[This is] as a result of they pass towards conventional gender norms the place the girl is simply within the kitchen and simply cooking and caring for youngsters. However now feminine athletes are changing into extra unbiased, financially unbiased,” stated Joan Chelimo, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels to assist spotlight the problem of violence towards ladies.
“We don’t need this to occur to another girl, whether or not an athlete or from the village, or a tender woman,” Rachel Kamweru, a spokesperson of the federal government’s division for gender and affirmative motion, informed the BBC.
When Cheptegei first were given into working, she joined the Uganda Other people’s Defence Forces in 2008 which helped strengthen her.
Her closing race was once on the Paris Olympics. Even if she got here forty fourth folks in her house house nonetheless referred to her as “champion”.
She gained gold on the Global Mountain and Path Working Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.
Getty Pictures/BBC
