Uganda | Funeral of Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, burned alive by her partner

(Bukwo) Hundreds of Ugandans and many athletes paid their last respects on Saturday at the funeral of Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who was doused in petrol and set on fire by her partner in early September in Kenya, a few weeks after running the Paris Olympics marathon.

The 33-year-old marathon runner died of her serious and multiple injuries on September 5 after being attacked on September 1.^er September by her Kenyan partner in Kenya, where she lived and trained.

Her attacker, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, 32, doused her with petrol before setting her on fire. He himself was seriously burned and died in a Kenyan hospital on Monday.

Rebecca Cheptegei’s death has sparked an international outpouring of tributes and outrage. Human rights activists have denounced this latest femicide in Kenya, where two other athletes, Agnes Tirop and Damaris Mutua, have been killed and their respective partners accused of the murders since 2021.

On Saturday morning, relatives of the Ugandan athlete, residents and officials gathered to pay their last respects in the village of Bukwo where her family lives, some 380 kilometres northeast of the capital Kampala.

The ceremony to honor the athlete, who was also a sergeant in the Ugandan army, began at 10 a.m. (3 a.m. Eastern Time) with a gathering of family members and officials at a local town hall.

Her coffin, draped in the Ugandan flag, was saluted by army officers, who then carried the body to the community hall, which overlooks the remote hills of the young woman’s childhood as far as the eye can see.

“An inspiration”

Rebecca Cheptegei was “a heroine,” Bessie Modest Ajilong, a local representative of the Ugandan presidency, told AFP, describing her as “exceptional.”

“We, the leaders, considered her an inspiration,” she added.

The athlete’s body was then transported from the town hall to a stadium, where hundreds of people gathered to honour his memory.

Rebecca Cheptegei will be buried this afternoon.

Many athletes, including Kenyans Mary Keitany and Daniel Komen, travelled to the small town to pay their last respects to the young woman, who finished 44th^e at the Paris Olympics marathon on August 11.

“She contributed greatly to the promotion of athletics until her last days,” Alex Malinga, who coached her when she was a teenager, told AFP. “Cheptegei was an inspiration to the younger generations who hoped that one day they would be like her.”

Epidemic of femicides

On Friday, the athlete’s relatives in Kenya gathered to honour her memory around her coffin in the town of Eldoret (western Kenya), in the Rift Valley – which is the heart of the country’s athletics – and close to where she lived.

His remains then crossed the border between Kenya, the African athletics power, and Uganda late Friday afternoon.

“We are extremely sad,” commented Simon Ayeko, Rebecca’s ex-husband, with whom she had two daughters, on Friday.

“As a father, it has been very difficult,” he added, explaining that he had not yet been able to tell his children the news. “Little by little, we will tell them the truth.”

According to police, Rebecca’s attacker broke into her home and hid while she was at church with her children.

M’s family^me Cheptegei claims the couple had been fighting over the property where she lived with her sister and daughters. “I think by that time their relationship had deteriorated,” Moses Kipsiro, M’s brother-in-law, told AFP.^me Cheptegei.

“I didn’t know anything was wrong,” said Mr Kipsiro, who is from Bukwo and trained with Rebecca Cheptegei.

The killing has once again highlighted what human rights advocates call an epidemic of femicide in the East African country of Kenya. The country has reported 725 cases in 2022 alone, according to the UN.

A report released the following year by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics found that the proportion of women aged 15 to 49 who had experienced physical violence since the age of 15 was 34%.