Ex-boyfriend who burned Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei alive dies in hospital from burns he sustained during attack

The man who set fire to Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei last Sunday has also died from injuries he sustained in the attack on the Ugandan athlete.

Cheptegei, 33, suffered multiple organ failure last week and tragically passed away in a hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, days after she sustained 80% burns when ex-boyfriend Dickson Ndiema threw petrol on her.

Ndiema also received significant burns during the attack and was rushed to hospital, where Kenyan police said he would be detained once he had recovered enough from his injuries.

But officials said this morning that Ndiema also succumbed to his injuries.

A statement read: “Dickson Ndiema Marangach has died from 30 per cent burns he sustained when he set his girlfriend Rebecca Cheptegei ablaze last week.

“The police believe he was burnt by the same petrol he used in setting Rebecca ablaze following a dispute over ownership of land one of them had bought.”

The pair were heard by neighbours arguing loudly at Cheptegei’s home in Kenya’s western Trans Nzoia County where the athlete had recently moved to be closer to superior Kenyan training facilities.

Ndiema is said to have snapped and doused her with petrol from a jerry can before setting her alight.

Neighbours who heard the commotion came running to discover the Olympian engulfed in flames and tried to extinguish them, to no avail.

Agnes Barabara, who lives adjacent to Cheptegei’s home, told the BBC: ‘When I came out, I saw Rebecca running towards my house on fire, shouting: help me.

‘As I went to look for water and started calling out for help, her assailant appeared again and doused more petrol on her.’

Barabara added she could not eat for days after witnessing the incident from mere metres away, saying solemnly she had never seen anyone ‘burned alive’.

Cheptegei was born in Kenya close to the border with Uganda, but crossed over to represent the latter as her athletic career began to pick up speed.

In 2022, she won gold in the up and downhill mountain race at the inaugural World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand.

Cheptegei also won the Padova marathon in Italy earlier that year, before finishing second in the Abu Dhabi marathon in 2hr 22min 47sec – the second fastest time by a female Ugandan.