A Ugandan Olympian is in intensive care in a Kenyan hospital after being doused with petrol and set on fireplace allegedly by her companion, officers mentioned Tuesday, the most recent horrific incident of gender-based violence within the East African nation. Lengthy-distance runner Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, was assaulted after her Kenyan companion Dickson Ndiema Marangach reportedly snuck into her house in Endebess within the western county of Trans-Nzoia at round 2:00 pm on Sunday whereas she and her youngsters had been at church, police mentioned. “Dickson, who had procured petrol, started pouring (it) on Rebecca earlier than he set her ablaze,” a police report mentioned late Monday, including that he was additionally injured by the flames.
It mentioned that neighbours had rescued the pair and brought them to close by Kitale County Referral Hospital the place they had been admitted with “a number of burns”.
They had been transferred to Moi Instructing and Referral Hospital (MTRH), the place Cheptegei was admitted to the intensive care unit on Monday.
“Her situation seems to be severe with facial burns and bandages,” a MTRH employees member informed AFP, requesting anonymity as they weren’t authorised to talk to the media.
The police report didn’t point out if Cheptegei’s youngsters had been damage within the assault.
The Ugandan athlete and Marangach had been a pair who “continuously had household wrangles”, the police report mentioned.
Native media mentioned the athlete had sustained burns over 75 % of her physique, and that her mother and father had been travelling from Uganda to go to her.
They mentioned their daughter had purchased land and constructed a home within the Trans-Nzoia space which lies on the border with Uganda, based on native media.
Cheptegei positioned forty fourth within the marathon on the Paris Olympics.
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 a press release on X.
A report by the Kenyan Bureau of Nationwide Statistics printed in January 2023 discovered that 34 % of ladies 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 useless in Iten, a world-famous working 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 house 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.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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