Uganda will lay to rest Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei on Saturday, who tragically died earlier this month after her partner set her on fire in a shocking case of gender-based violence in Kenya.
The 33-year-old athlete, who made her Olympic debut in the women’s marathon at the Paris Games this summer, succumbed to severe burns last week following the attack by Dickson Ndiema Marangach.
The brutal assault has horrified the East African region and sparked a global wave of tributes, with activists condemning yet another instance of gender-based violence.
As rain fell, her body crossed the Kenya-Uganda border late Friday afternoon, ahead of her burial in the family’s village of Bukwo, about 380 kilometers (240 miles) northeast of Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
“We are extremely saddened,” said her estranged husband, Simon Ayeko, with whom she had two daughters.
“As a father, it has been very difficult,” he told AFP, adding that he had not yet been able to break the news to their children. “Slowly, we will tell them the truth.”
Cheptegei, a sergeant in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, will receive a burial with military honours, starting at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT), according to Beatrice Ayikoru, Uganda’s Olympic Committee secretary-general and a member of the burial organizing committee.
A large number of athletes have traveled to the village to pay their respects.
“She greatly contributed to the promotion of athletics until her last days,” said her former coach, Alex Malinga, who trained her during her teenage years.
– ‘Strained Relationship’ –
Local media reported that Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the attack. Police stated that Marangach had snuck into her home while she was at church with her children.
Her family revealed that the couple had been arguing over the ownership of the property where she lived with her sister, Dorcas Cherop, and her daughters.
Her attacker later died from injuries sustained during the assault.
“I think at that time, their relationship had become sour,” Rebecca Cheptegei’s brother-in-law, Moses Kipsiro, told AFP.
“I didn’t know then that something was wrong,” added Kipsiro, who had previously trained with Cheptegei and is also from Bukwo.
The vicious assault has once again highlighted what activists are calling a femicide epidemic. According to the latest UN figures, Kenya recorded 725 femicide cases in 2022 alone.
A subsequent report by Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics revealed that 34 percent of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
Since 2021, at least two other athletes, Agnes Tirop and Damaris Mutua, have tragically lost their lives in incidents of domestic violence.
