A terrible story happened in Kenya with a Ugandan marathon runner. Rebecca Chepteghi, who competed in the Olympic Games just a month ago, is now fighting for her life in hospital, where she was admitted with severe burns. Her ex-lover is to blame for everything, as she doused the athlete with petrol and set her on fire.
“The patient has burns on 80% of her body.”
On September 3, a terrible news appeared in the African media: Olympic participant Cheptegi was transferred to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya in critical condition. The cause was burns on 80% of his body.
The hospital’s acting chief executive, Owen Menach, told The Star that doctors were fighting to save the patient’s life.
“The patient has burns on 80% of her body. She is in intensive care and in an induced coma due to the severity of her burns. She is being given full support in terms of water, medicines and blood. She is on a ventilator. Cheptegi is a known patient and we are doing everything possible to save her life.”
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Intensive care unit doctor Josephat Kerema told the Nation more about Rebecca’s condition.
“We are carrying out the first phase of treatment, which usually takes 72 hours. It will help us further: sometimes patients are taken to the operating theatre depending on the severity of the burns. The most important thing now is to make sure that Cheptega does not develop multiple organ failure, as he suffered burns to his throat and airways.”
“During an argument, a man poured gasoline on Cheptegi”
Unfortunately, the story of the Ugandan athlete is not an accident, but a real crime. Rebecca was hospitalized after an attempted murder by her ex-boyfriend, Kenyan Nixon Ndiem. He came to Cheptegi to discuss property disputes after the breakup. There was a fight between the former lovers, and then Ndiem doused the athlete with gasoline and set her on fire.
“The man is believed to have entered the property at around 2pm on Sunday while Rebecca was at church with her children. When Cheptegi returned home, neighbours heard the couple arguing outside their house. During the argument, Dixon was seen pouring petrol on Rebecca before setting her on fire. The suspect was also caught in the fire and suffered serious burns,” Trans-Nzoia District Police Commander Jeremiah Kosiom told The Standard.
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Kosiom said it was the neighbours who saved Cheptegi: they intervened in the fight, put out the fire and took the athlete and her ex-lover to the hospital. Ndiem, by the way, also suffered badly; he received burns on 30% of his body.
“We even filed a lawsuit”
The athlete’s father, Joseph, explained to the media why there was a fight between his daughter and her ex-boyfriend. According to Cheptega Sr., Rebecca has been arguing with Nixon for a long time over a piece of land with a house in Kenya’s Trans-Nzoia district. The athlete did not buy a property in Uganda, as she trained in Kenya and wanted to raise her two children there.
Already living in a new country, Rebecca met Nixon. They quickly began a romantic relationship and began living together in the same house, but eventually separated due to disagreements. Ndiem then began to claim that he had the right to dispose of Cheptega’s property.
“They started dating when my daughter came to Kenya for an internship, but Ndiem is not her husband. After a while, there were property disputes. We even filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department.
“Just after returning from the Olympics, where he represented Uganda, he had to travel to Kenya due to a police case. And now this tragedy happened…” Joseph shared.
The marathons at the Olympic Games were extremely dramatic:
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The 35-year-old athlete did not shine at major international tournaments: she took 44th place at the Paris Olympics and 14th at the 2023 World Championships. But Cheptega won at less important tournaments. The Ugandan athlete was the best at the Padua Marathon and at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand in 2022. But most importantly, Rebecca, with her achievements, inspired many children, and especially girls, to take up sports.
Now Cheptegi, if he manages to get out, faces a difficult road to recovery.
