The father of slain Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei says they had reported increased violence cases between the athlete and her estranged lover, way before Sunday’s tragic incidents that took the athlete’s life.
Cheptegei passed away Thursday at a hospital in the North Rift town of Eldoret in Kenya, succumbing to burns after she was allegedly doused with petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend due to a domestic dispute on Sunday.
Joshua said, speaking to Telecomasia.net outside the hospital after news of her daughter’s death
We had reported these issues to the authorities several times, but they did not do anything. There were several cases of violence between them and we wanted him to leave our girl alone. She travelled to Uganda, but still the man followed her. I believe that if the authorities would have done something, I would still have my daughter.
According to medics attending to her, Rebecca passed away due to multiple organ failure as she had suffered 70 percent burns. The boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, is also admitted at the same health facility after he also suffered burns from the incident.
