By Ammu Kannampilly
KINYORO, Kenya (Reuters) – On the morning of Sunday Sept. 1, Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei was getting ready to go to church from her dwelling within the highlands of western Kenya. Her ex-boyfriend referred to as a pal of his to ask if he may borrow a lighter.
He mentioned he had “an emergency” and was heading out of city, the pal, retired runner Dennis Masai Chepkongin, advised Reuters at his dwelling within the Mount Elgon area, the place Cheptegei lived.
“He became very secretive when I asked him why,” Chepkongin mentioned, including that he declined the request.
Hours later Cheptegei’s former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, doused the runner in petrol and set her on hearth, in line with her household and police.
Each would die in hospital of their burns. Marangach couldn’t be reached for remark earlier than his loss of life, and Reuters was unable independently to confirm the main points of what occurred that day.
A police official, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t authorised to talk to the media, confirmed Marangach had been below investigation for homicide when he died.
The land round Cheptegei’s dwelling within the quiet village of Kinyoro bore witness to a grisly loss of life. The bottom was charred and moist with gasoline when reporters visited final weekend. Her 17-year-old sister, Dorcas, who was attacked with a machete, sat weeping quietly, her physique doubled over, or stared dumbly into house.
Cheptegei’s killing so quickly after the athlete had competed for Uganda within the Paris Olympics shocked the world. But it surely was no shock to Cheptegei or her household, her mother and father advised Reuters.
Their story sheds gentle on the darkish aspect of success for feminine athletes in Kenya’s patriarchal society. Elite runners can earn more cash in a single marathon than many Kenyans do in a 12 months. They are saying their success regularly makes them targets for predatory males who attempt to manipulate them and wrest management of their property.
Cheptegei was the third feminine runner to be killed in Kenya since 2021, allegedly by romantic companions. She was resulting from be buried in Uganda’s Bukwo district on Saturday, in line with the nation’s athletics federation. Native media reported that the athlete, who was additionally a member of the Ugandan defence forces, could be buried with army honours.
She had tried to guard herself.
A 33-year-old single mom of two born in neighbouring Uganda, Cheptegei had walked out of the connection with Marangach, managed her personal cash and was breadwinner for an prolonged household together with her mother and father, a dozen siblings and her two daughters, aged 9 and 11, relations mentioned.
She had gone to police not less than 3 times this 12 months to report threats and bodily abuse by Marangach, her father, Joseph, mentioned.
He shared with Reuters police slips confirming complaints she filed in February and Could, in Kinyoro and the close by city of Kitale.
“This man is going to kill my child,” Joseph mentioned he advised officers in February, after Marangach allegedly beat her up and broke her cellphone.
He mentioned the police had advised Marangach to keep away from Cheptegei’s dwelling, however he did not hear. “So we went back to the police and they were not keen to do anything else. My daughter died because the police failed.”
Neither the native nor the nationwide police responded to a request for touch upon that time. Authorities spokesman Isaac Mwaura didn’t reply to Reuters’ questions.
Cheptegei’s killing left different feminine runners despairing at what they referred to as the persevering with inaction of the authorities and Athletics Kenya, the nationwide governing physique for the game.
“No one is held accountable,” mentioned Joan Chelimo, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels, a non-profit established to assist home violence victims after Kenyan long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed to loss of life in 2021.
Tirop’s husband, Ibrahim Rotich, was charged together with her homicide. He pleaded not responsible and was launched on bail final 12 months. His case is ongoing and his lawyer declined to remark.
Kenyan-Bahraini runner Damaris Mutua was additionally killed in 2022. Her Ethiopian boyfriend was named as a suspect. The Kenyan police say he fled Kenya.
Kenya’s Sports activities Minister Kipchumba Murkomen has condemned the assault on Cheptegei and promised motion.
An adviser to President William Ruto mentioned authorities had been working to stop gender-based violence in sports activities. However activists say its efforts are falling brief.
“A STRAIGHTFORWARD PERSON”
Violence in opposition to girls is a significant drawback in Kenya. One in three adolescent women and girls have been victims, in line with authorities information from 2022.
Femicide Depend Kenya, an NGO that makes use of media reviews to doc intentional killings with a gender-related motivation, has recorded 157 killings of ladies up to now in 2024 — essentially the most in a 12 months because it started accumulating information in 2019.
“More women are facing violence but they are not getting any help from police,” mentioned Audrey Mugeni, the group’s co-founder.
Elizabeth Keitany, who sits on the manager board of Athletics Kenya, mentioned her staff had helped six younger girls escape abusive relationships since 2022, providing them a protected place to reside and counselling companies.
“Any case that is reported to us, we are very swift,” she advised Reuters.
Esther Chemtai, a 24-year-old fellow athlete of Cheptegei’s, mentioned that when she was 18, she had additionally been in an abusive relationship with a person who wished her handy over all her earnings to him. When she refused, he beat her.
Chemtai left him in January 2023, with the assistance of Tirop’s Angels, who provided her assist and counselling, she mentioned.
Chemtai referred to as Cheptegei a “straightforward person” who didn’t hesitate to stroll away from controlling males.
“If she said no, it meant no,” Chemtai mentioned.
Cheptegei was additionally dedicated to her household, shopping for land for her father price $1,200 in 2016 — the equal of round 11 months of Kenya’s minimal wage on the time.
She met Marangach, a struggling motorbike taxi driver and aspiring athlete, in 2020 or 2021 when she was dwelling in Uganda, her household mentioned. Marangach urged her to maneuver to Kenya and practice in Iten, a hub for prime distance runners and a high-altitude coaching attraction for vacationers.
She constructed a home simply over two hours’ drive from Iten in Kinyoro and moved there in 2021, in line with the retired runner Chepkongin. A former world U20 champion, he mentioned he met her round that point.
The house is a two-bedroom home on a small plot of land in a quiet neighborhood with little infrastructure. Roads are unpaved and potholed, entry to electrical energy is proscribed — on a transparent evening, the Milky Approach is seen — however the proximity to Iten was good for coaching.
The police official mentioned Marangach was in possession of a deed to that land. Cheptegei’s father rejects this declare. He confirmed Reuters a photograph of a land deed signed and stamped in March 2021, which listed Rebecca because the purchaser of the plot in Kinyoro, and Marangach as a witness.
Her household and Chepkongin say Cheptegei supported Marangach financially. The retired runner mentioned he had been pals with Marangach since 2018 and had additionally helped cowl his hire, coaching equipment and different bills.
“Dickson had no money before Rebecca came into his life,” he mentioned.
Two of Marangach’s sisters advised Reuters his household was certainly poor. However his elder sister, Naomi Chebet Kiprop, mentioned the couple had pooled funds to purchase the land the place Cheptegei lived together with her daughters.
“God would have helped Dickson get a place we can call home,” she advised Reuters.
“Now that Dickson has died, we have no means.”
“EVERYONE DEPENDED ON HER”
Cheptegei ended the relationship with Marangach in January, her father mentioned. In Could, she reported Marangach to the police after he despatched males to attempt to intimidate her into handing over her land and home.
Chepkongin and Samwel Kibet, one other pal of Marangach, mentioned he didn’t heed their recommendation to depart Cheptegei alone.
Cheptegei went to the police once more on Friday, Aug. 30. The officers advised her to return the next Monday, in line with her father, who was together with her, and Chepkongin.
The native police official mentioned officers noticed the issue as a battle about land after the connection soured, including that police thought they’d “made peace” between the 2.
With Cheptegei and her household at church that Sunday morning, Marangach climbed over her land’s barbed wire wall and hid contained in the hen coop till she returned, her father mentioned, citing an account by her sister Dorcas.
Marangach attacked Rebecca and lunged at Dorcas with a machete when she tried to intervene, Joseph Cheptegei mentioned.
Dorcas didn’t communicate to Reuters in regards to the assault, however she pressured her sister’s drive to outlive.
“My sister always told me it was very important for a woman to have her own money, to be empowered, not depend on anyone,” she mentioned.
Cheptegei suffered burns to 80% of her physique. When she was hospitalised, her father mentioned he may solely recognise her voice. She died 4 days later.
For Cheptegei’s household, in mourning at their homestead an hour’s drive from Rebecca’s dwelling, anger was matched by the depth of their loss.
“Everyone in this compound depended on her. I don’t know what I will do now,” her mom Agnes mentioned, breaking down in tears.
