Rebecca Cheptegei, competes at the Discovery 10km road race in Kapchorwa, Uganda Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. A Cheptegei, a Ugandan athlete living in Kenya was set ablaze by her boyfriend on Sunday Sept. 1, 2024 and is currently receiving treatment for 75% burns, police said. (AP Photo)
Rebecca Cheptegei, competes at the Discovery 10km road race in Kapchorwa, Uganda Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. A Cheptegei, a Ugandan athlete living in Kenya was set ablaze by her boyfriend on Sunday Sept. 1, 2024 and is currently receiving treatment for 75% burns, police said. (AP Photo)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Ugandan athlete living in Kenya was set ablaze by her boyfriend and is currently receiving treatment for 75% burns, police said.
Rebecca Cheptegei, a distance runner who finished at the 44th position in the , was attacked in her house in the western Trans Nzoia County.
Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said Monday that Cheptegei’s boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, bought a jerrican of petrol, poured it on her and set her ablaze during a disagreement Sunday. Ndiema also sustained burn wounds, and the two are receiving specialized treatment at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret city.
Cheptegei’s parents said their daughter bought land in Trans Nzoia to be near the county's many athletic training centers.
A report filed by the local chief states that the couple was heard fighting over the land where the house was built before the fire started.
In 2023, Ugandan Olympic runner and steeplechaser . In 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee was found dead with a postmortem report stating that she was strangled.
