Ex-boyfriend who ‘set Uganda’s Cheptegei on fire’ dies from burns

Dickson Ndiema, the man accused of fatally burning Rebecca Cheptegei, the Ugandan athlete, is dead. 

According to local authorities, Ndiema, an ex-boyfriend of Cheptegei, died on Monday from burns sustained during the attack on his former partner.

The ex-boyfriend was accused of dousing Cheptegei in petrol and setting her ablaze while she was returning to her house from church in western Trans Nzoia County, Nairobi, on September 1.

The 33-year-old athlete suffered burns on 80 percent of her body and was being treated at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret City, where she died on September 5.

Ndiema also suffered burns from the attack and was also admitted to the hospital for treatment. His injuries were initially considered less critical.

Reports filed by the local chief had said the two ex-lovers had been fighting over a piece of land.

Cheptegei, who lived in Kenya, represented Uganda at the 2024 Paris Olympics and finished 44th in the women’s marathon event.

She is the third elite sportswoman to be killed in Kenya in the last three years.

In 2021, Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death at her home in Iten. The husband of the 25-year-old was also named the suspect in the murder.

In 2022, Damaris Mutua, another Kenyan-born athlete, was found dead in a house in Iten, and her then-boyfriend was also identified as a suspect.