Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei’s Father Makes Desperate Plea After Her Death From Gasoline Attack
Rebecca Cheptegei’s accused attacker has died, just days after she succumbed to her injuries.
Dickson Ndiema, the Olympian’s former partner who allegedly set her on fire in a gasoline attack over a land dispute, had been taken to a hospital in western Kenya alongside Rebecca.
However, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital spokesperson Daniel Lang’at, told Reuters Sept. 9, per NBC News, “He died from his injuries, the burns he sustained.”
Dickson had sustained burns to 30 percent of his body, NBC News reported citing local media outlets, after attacking Rebecca as she returned home from church to her Kenyan home with her two children.
E! News has reached out to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital as well as authorities for comment but has noy yet heard back.
His death comes just four days after Rebecca, who competed in the marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this summer, died at the age of 33 from complete organ failure due to the injuries she sustained in the attack. Following the incident, police chief Jeremiah Ole Kosiom told reporters, per the BBC, that the marathon runner suffered burns on at least 75 percent of her body in addition to inhalation burns.