Rebecca Cheptegei, 2022 World Mountain Running Champion.
Ugandan marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei's ex-boyfriend and alleged killer, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, who died on Monday, was an athletics “coach” assistant.
According to the 800m and 1,500m Kenyan athlete, Isaac Ruto, Dickson moved to Endebes from his hometown in Masek, Mount Elgon to escape the clashes in the region. In Endebes, he used to help athletes during their training and competitions.
“Ndiema used to help us, especially during long runs and he would assist in handing water to athletes on Thursdays and Saturdays. That was the only time we could meet him until he was called a coach because of his assistance. We didn’t have a coach and we were still developing the camp so that we could seek professional services,” explained Ruto.
He said that many of the athletes who assembled in the region were upcoming and didn’t want to head to Iten and Kaptagat in Elgeyo Marakwet County due to financial constraints.
Ruto revealed that he stayed with Dickson before he met Cheptegei during one of their training sessions and they fell in love and moved in together.
They were a couple, but later separated and that didn’t go well with Ndiema and that is why he decided to go that route. They used to stay in a rental house as we trained together, but she decided to shift to her new house and that is when Ndiema brought another wife to the rental house and he was also claiming Cheptegei’s house in Kinyoro in Trans Nzoia County,” he said.
Ndiema died due to respiratory failure as a result of severe airway burns and sepsis at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret.
According to the MTRH CEO, Dr Philip Kirwa, Ndiema passed on at 6.30pm on Monday after he was admitted to the facility due to severe burns resulting from a domestic violence incident.
“Ndiema was admitted on September 2, as a referral from Kitale County Referral Hospital where he had sustained burns over 41 percent of his body. During his stay, he received treatment from a multidisciplinary team in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“At the ICU he developed respiratory failure as a result of the severe airway burns and sepsis that led to his eventual death on Monday at 6.30pm despite life-saving measures,” said Dr Kirwa.
Ndiema was accused of attacking Cheptegei at her home in Trans Nzoia over an unresolved land dispute.
He allegedly ambushed the marathoner as she returned home, before dousing her with petrol and setting her alight.
Efforts by the athlete to save her life were unsuccessful as her attacker continued to douse her with more petrol.
Cheptegei sustained more than 80 per cent burns, according to medical teams that attended to her at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), while Ndiema sustained over 30 per cent burns.
