Accused assassin of Ugandan Olympian dies from flames, according to hospital officials

The guy who is suspected of dousing Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei in gasoline and lighting her on fire passed away on Tuesday, according to a hospital official, from wounds he received during the attack.

The 33-year-old Cheptegei, an Olympic marathon competitor from Paris, perished four days after the attack on September 1 from burns affecting over 75% of her body.

Dickson Ndiema Marangach, her ex-boyfriend, passed away on Monday at 1830 GMT, according to Philip Kirwa, the chief executive officer of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, western Kenya, where Marangach was receiving treatment and where Cheptegei also passed away.

“He developed respiratory failure as a result of the severe airway burns and sepsis that led to his eventual death,” Kirwa said in a statement.

According to Kirwa, Marangach attacked Cheptegei, causing over 41% of her body to be burned. The incident was reportedly captured on camera after she got home from church with her kids.

Since October 2021, Cheptegei—who placed 44th in Paris—became Kenya’s third high-level athlete to be assassinated. Her passing has brought domestic abuse in the nation of East Africa to light, especially within its running community.

“It killed my daughter, which is why this person is dead. Joseph Cheptegei, Cheptegei’s father, informed Reuters that his son had passed away as a result of his deeds.

According to human rights organizations, female athletes in Kenya, where a large number of foreign runners train in the highlands at high altitudes, are highly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by men who are lured by their winning money, which far surpasses local wages.

“The true course of justice would have been for him to reflect on his actions while incarcerated. This is definitely not good news, according to Viola Cheptoo, co-founder of Tirop’s Angels, a domestic abuse survivors’ support group in Kenya’s sports world.

Cheptoo told Reuters, “The shock of Rebecca’s passing is still fresh.”

In October 2021, Agnes Tirop, a rising star in Kenya’s fiercely competitive athletics scene, was found murdered in her Iten, Kenya, house with numerous stab wounds to her neck. Cheptoo co-founded Tirop’s Angels in her honor.

Tirop’s husband, Ibrahim Rotich, has entered a not guilty plea to the accusation of her murder. The matter is still pending.

Government statistics from 2022 show that over 34% of Kenyan girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 had experienced physical violence, with married women being more vulnerable. Of married women surveyed in 2022, 41% reported experiencing violence.

A UN Women research from 2023 found that, on average, a woman in the world is killed by a member of her own family every 11 minutes.

“While I don’t wish harm on anyone, I would have preferred that he be held accountable and serve as a role model for others to end the harassment of women,” Beatrice Ayikoru, secretary-general of the Uganda Olympic Committee, stated to Reuters.