Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) will be burry slain marathon record holder Rebecca Cheptegei with military honours today at Kapkoros in Bukwo, Northeast of Uganda’s capital Kampala.
Cheptegei, 33 was a Sergeant in UPDF. She joined the forces in 2008 after she started running.
Emotions ran high as family, friends and fellow athletes removed her body from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) mortuary.
In the evening, they crossed the Kenya-Uganda border.
The mother of two succumbed to severe burns after she was attacked by her husband Dickson Ndiema Marangach at their house in Endebes Trans Nzoia county on September 2.
Marangach doused her in petrol before he set her on fire. She died four days later at the MTRH.
The burial procession being escorted in Uganda.
Marangach, 32 who also sustained burns died at MTRH on September 9.
It was reported the two quarrelled over a land in Endebes she bought but Marangach wanted to evict her.
Scores of athletes travelled to the village in Uganda ahead of the burial.
Her ex-husband Simon Ayeko with whom Cheptegei had two daughters told the media they were extremely saddened.
“As a father it has been very difficult,” he told the AFP, explaining he had not been able to break the news to their children.
“Slowly we will tell them the truth.”
The vicious assault has thrown yet another spotlight on what activists have called a femicide epidemic.
In 2021, world-record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death and six months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.
Cheptegei was a Sergeant in UPDF.
Cheptegei’s last race was Paris Olympic concluded in August. Although she came 44th people in her home area still referred to her as “champion”.
She won gold at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.
