Sunrise: 22 February 1991
Sunset: 5 September 2024
Rebecca Cheptegei conquered all odds and made her debut at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Then, on Sunday September 1, after arriving home from a church service, her ex, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, jumped at her, threw fuel on her and set her alight.
Doctors said Cheptegei suffered burns on more than 80 percent of her body. She died four days later after all her organs failed.
On September 9 her ex, Marangach, who had also sustained burns from attacking Rebecca, died in hospital.
This year Cheptegei reported her ex to the police several times. However the police only cautioned him. This reflects the country’s highly patriarchal attitude to gender based violence.
Kenya has one of the highest rates of violence against women in Africa. One in three women in Kenya reports at least a case of abuse by the age of 18, largely from their intimate male partners, male family members, or other males known to them (Kenyan Gender Violence Recovery Centre). According to World Bank, 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence. Globally, 7% of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner. Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner.
As a professional runner, Rebecca Cheptegei achieved much in her career: she won gold in 2022 at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and finished second at the November 2023 Florence Marathon in Italy.
Rest in Peace Rebecca Cheptegei.
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You might be interested to read Gender Based Violence In Africa or Rest in Peace Agnes Jebet Tirop
