A Ugandan long-distance runner competing at this summer time’s Paris Olympics was badly burned in Kenya after a person she was in a relationship doused her with gasoline and set her on hearth Sunday, native authorities mentioned.
Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, was in a important situation on the Moi Instructing and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, after struggling burns to 80 % of her physique, in keeping with Dr. Owen Menach, who works on the hospital.
She was assaulted by a person recognized as Dickson Ndiema, with whom she is claimed to be in a relationship, in keeping with Jeremiah Ole Kosiom, Trans Nzoia District Police Commander in Kitale, Kenya. Thus far, no arrests have been made, the police mentioned.
Mr Ndiema sneaked into Ms Cheptegei’s house in Trans-Nzoia County with a can of petrol, Mr Kosiome mentioned, and he doused her in petrol and set her on hearth. The ensuing hearth additionally burned Mr Ndiema on 30 % of his physique, Mr Kosiom mentioned.
The 2 have been concerned in a property dispute, which prompted Ms Cheptegai to file a police report, in keeping with her father Joseph Cheptegai.
Ms Cheptegei, an expert athlete, ran the marathon on the Paris Olympics in August, the place she positioned forty fourth. She certified for the Olympic marathon after setting a private greatest of two hours, 22 minutes and 47 seconds on the 2022 Abu Dhabi Marathon, in keeping with website for the video games in Paris. In 2022, she received the Up and Downhill race on the World Mountain Operating and Path Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Ms Cheptegei will not be the one athlete to have been attacked in recent times, sparking discuss of gender-based violence in a number of African nations. In 2021 Agnes Jebet TiropA Kenyan long-distance runner who competed within the Tokyo Olympics and broke world information was discovered stabbed to dying in her house. Her husband, Ibrahim Rotic, was charged along with her homicide however pleaded not responsible. The next 12 months, Damaris Muti Mutua, a Kenyan-born athlete competing for Bahrain, was found strangled in Iten, Kenya.
Protests towards femicide have erupted in Kenya following a horrific spate of femicides between nations together with Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa, and referred to as on authorities to do extra to cease gender-based violence. Girls’s rights activists have linked the surge in murders in recent times to financial pressures and the coronavirus lockdown, and say authorities and leaders haven’t accomplished sufficient to sort out the issue.
In keeping with the UN, about 20,000 gender-related killings of ladies have been recorded in Africa in 2022, which is highest female homicide rate in the world.
One other Ugandan runner, Benjamin Kiplagat, was fatally stabbed final 12 months in Kenya on New Years. Mr Kiplagat, 34, has competed in three Olympics, specializing within the 3,000m steeplechase.
Jimmy Gitaka contributed reporting from Eldoret, Kenya.
