Uganda Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei set on fire by her boyfriend, Kenya police say

A Ugandan athlete residing in Kenya was attacked and set on fireplace by her boyfriend and is receiving therapy for burns on 75% of her physique, police mentioned.

Rebecca Cheptegei, a distance runner who completed on the forty fourth place within the 2024 Paris Olympics, was attacked in her home within the western Trans Nzoia County. She was in important situation as of Tuesday, the BBC reported.

Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom mentioned Monday that Cheptegei’s boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, purchased a jerrican of petrol, poured it on her and set her ablaze throughout an argument Sunday.

“Her situation seems to be critical with facial burns and bandages,” a MTRH workers member informed AFP, requesting anonymity as they weren’t approved to talk to the media.

The police report didn’t point out if Cheptegei’s youngsters had been harm within the assault.

Ndiema additionally sustained burn wounds, and the 2 are receiving specialised therapy on the Moi Instructing and Referral Hospital in Eldoret metropolis.

Cheptegei’s mother and father mentioned their daughter purchased land in Trans Nzoia to be close to the county’s many athletic coaching facilities.

A report filed by the native chief states that the couple was heard preventing over the land the place the home was constructed earlier than the fireplace began.

The Ugandan Athletics Federation expressed its remorse over the incident, saying Cheptegei had “suffered extreme accidents.”

“This follows an incident involving her Kenyan boyfriend pouring petrol and setting fireplace on her,” it mentioned in an announcement on social media.

Disturbing pattern of gender-based violence

The assault marked the most recent horrific incident of gender-based violence within the East African nation.

A report by the Kenyan Bureau of Nationwide Statistics printed in January 2023 discovered that 34 % of girls in Kenya have skilled bodily violence for the reason that age of 15.

It mentioned ladies who had “been married are more likely to have skilled violence”, noting that 41 % of such ladies reported incidents in comparison with 20 % of single ladies.

The assault on Cheptegei comes two years after Kenyan-born athlete Damaris Mutua was discovered lifeless in Iten, a world-famous operating hub within the Rift Valley within the west of the nation.

Her loss of life adopted the homicide of record-breaking runner Agnes Tirop, 25, who was discovered stabbed to loss of life at her residence in Iten in 2021.

Tirop’s estranged husband Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich went on trial over her homicide in 2023. He has denied the fees. His trial is ongoing.

AFP contributed to this report.