Rebecca Cheptegei’s horrific murder highlights domestic violence epidemic in Kenya

Just weeks after participating in the Paris Olympics, Rebecca Cheptegei was murdered by her former partner, Dickson Ndiema, as Kenya experiences an epidemic of violence against women.

Content warning for description of Cheptegei’s murder by burning.

Cheptegei was born in Uganda but moved to Kenya to pursue her professional running career and be closer to various athletic centers in the country. She is one of the top female runners in the world, securing a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics and participating in the women’s marathon final, where she placed 44th. For over a decade, she ran professionally, specializing in long-distance races, including the 10k, half marathon, and marathon. In 2022, she finished second in the 10k in the Uganda Championships and fourth in the Abu Dhabi Marathon, setting a Ugandan record and paving the way to her Olympic debut.

She likely had further Olympic races, Championship wins, and national or world records in her future. However, her life was cut short. On September 3, news broke that Cheptegei was in critical condition after being attacked by Ndiema. She and her two children were at church when her murderer broke into her house. When Cheptegei arrived home, Ndiema poured petrol over her and set her on fire, resulting in her suffering burns to 80% of her body. On September 5, she was pronounced dead from multiple organ failures as a result of her injuries. She died at age 33. According to the local police chief, the brutal murder was over an argument about the land she purchased in Kenya to pursue her running career.

Kenya is experiencing a femicide crisis

News of Cheptegei’s murder has shocked and horrified the world. It’s hard to fathom that one of the world’s greatest athletes was so abruptly and violently taken away by a coward. What makes her death all the more outrageous is that she’s just one of multiple female Kenyan athletes murdered in recent years. On social media, many users honored Cheptegei while also reminding us of the names of three other female athletes murdered in Kenya by their partners in just the past three years.

Agnes Tirop was also one of the world’s greatest female distance runners, having been the world record holder in the women’s 10k. She was just 25 when she was stabbed to death in her home by her husband, Ibrahim Rotich, in 2021. Tirop was found in her running gear, having been heading out a run when she was attacked. That same year, track-and-field athlete Edith Muthoni, who had dreams of running on the international stage, was murdered at age 27 by her husband, Kennedy Chomba. Six months later, Damaris Mutua was struggled in her home by her partner Eskinder Hailemaryam Folie, who fled Kenya to avoid justice. Just a month before her murder, Matua had placed third in a half-marathon in Angola.

These deaths made international headlines because the women were elite athletes. However, there have actually been hundreds of femicides in Kenya in the past few years. Since 2017, at least 500 women have been murdered in Kenya, with 10 murders occurring in the first month of 2024 alone. The shocking deaths of Cheptegei, Mutua, Muthoni, and Tirop only serve to further confirm that Kenya has a femicide crisis on its hands.

Meanwhile, women and activists have been frustrated by a lack of action from the government, which has not taken any measures to launch a national campaign raising awareness for the epidemic. Although it claims to be committed to ending violence, little has changed. To add to the frustration, the trials and manhunts in the cases of the four athletes have dragged on for years with no evidence of justice taking place. Some people may point out that more men than women are killed annually in Kenya, but it’s the unusual increase in murders of women, and its nature involving domestic violence and gender-based murder, that’s so troubling.

As people around the world remember Cheptegei and the numerous innocent women who have lost their lives in Kenya, we can only hope it will move the Kenyan government to act on its femicide epidemic and fight for all these women and their families to receive justice.