The former partner of Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei has died in a Kenyan hospital, local media reported on Tuesday. The man is believed to have sustained severe burns during his alleged attack on the marathon runner.

Police said that Dickson Ndiema Marangach snuck into Cheptegei's home on September 1 while she attended church with her two daughters.

When she returned, authorities said, "he poured the petrol and lit her on fire" in front of her children. 

Cheptegei sustained burns to around 80% of her body and succumbed to her injuries four days after the September 1 attack.

Marangach, who suffered burns to around 30% of his body, died at 7:50 p.m. (1650 GMT) on Monday, said Daniel Lang'at, a spokesperson at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret in western Kenya, where Cheptegei was also treated and died.

Globally, a woman is killed by a relative every 11 minutes — UN

The case has cast a spotlight on femicide in East Africa.

Nearly 34% of Kenyan females aged between 15 and 49 years old have suffered physical violence, according to government data from 2022, with married women at particular risk. The study found that 41% of married women had faced violence.

According to a 2023 UN Women study, globally a female is killed by a family member every 11 minutes.

es, jsi/kb (AP, AFP, Reuters)