Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons
Kenya’s athletics community is grappling with cases of domestic violence against female athletes. Recent deaths and injuries at the hands of abusive partners have amplified demands for justice, and calls for authorities to curb the worrying trend.
Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, this week succumbed to injuries sustained after her former boyfriend allegedly doused her in petrol and set her on fire. The incident took place at her home in Endebess, western Kenya. Her alleged killer, a Kenyan man called Dickson Ndiema Marangach, was taken to hospital with burns from the incident. He is yet to face criminal charges.
Cheptegei’s tragedy was the latest in a growing list of deadly cases of domestic violence against female athletes in the country. In October 2021, star distance runner Agnes Tirop was killed in Iten, a famous high-altitude athletics training hub in western Kenya. She broke the world 10 kilometer women’s record just a month before her death.
Her husband Ibrahim Rotich was eventually arrested and charged with murder. The case is yet to be concluded, with Rotich out on bail since November last year.
Just six months after Tirop’s death, another gruesome death rocked the athletics community. Kenyan-born runner Damaris Muthee, who competed for Bahrain, was found dead in a house in Iten after being strangled.
Police launched a manhunt for her alleged killer, her Ethiopian partner Eskinder Hailemariam Folie, who allegedly fled with her ID and bank documents.
And other Kenyan runners, including Ruth Bosibori and Joan Chelimo, have come out publicly to reveal that they escaped abusive relationships.
