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Exterior the home the place Rebecca Cheptegei lived, flowers have been positioned on grass that was charred because the runner rolled on the bottom to attempt to put out flames engulfing her.
The 33-year-old Olympic runner died on Thursday from accidents sustained when her former companion allegedly doused her with petrol and set her ablaze days earlier whereas at house along with her two daughters.
“I used to be in the home and heard individuals screaming, ‘fireplace’. Once I got here out, I noticed Rebecca operating in direction of my home on fireplace, shouting ‘assist me,” Agnes Barabara, Ms Cheptegei’s rapid neighbour, tearfully instructed the BBC.
“As I went to search for water and began calling out for assist, her assailant appeared once more and doused extra petrol on her, however then he too acquired burned and he ran off in direction of the backyard to attempt to put it out. We then went to assist Rebecca.”
“I’ve by no means seen anybody burn alive in my life. I didn’t eat for days after that incident.”
“She was an excellent neighbour and only in the near past she shared with me maize she’d harvested.”
Police are treating the demise as a homicide, along with her ex-partner named by police as the principle suspect. Native directors mentioned the 2 had been in battle in regards to the small piece of land the place Ms Cheptegei lived, with the case awaiting decision.
He will likely be arraigned in court docket on costs as soon as he’s out of hospital, the place he continues to recuperate from accidents he sustained through the incident.
“We’ve opened a file, investigations are at a sophisticated stage,” divisional felony investigations officer Kennedy Apindi instructed the BBC.
Ms Cheptegei’s mom Agnes mentioned her daughter “was all the time obedient as a toddler, and really variety and jovial all by her life”.
Emmanual Kimutai, a buddy and neighbour who attended faculty with Ms Cheptegei, described her as a “very thrilling” and “decided” particular person.
“Even in major faculty she was already doing very nicely in athletics, she was our champion,” Mr Kimutai mentioned.
The Olympian was born on the Kenyan facet of the Kenya-Uganda border, however selected to cross over and characterize Uganda to chase her athletics dream when she didn’t get a breakthrough in Kenya.
When she began moving into athletics, she joined the Uganda Folks’s Defence Forces in 2008 and had risen to sergeant rank. Her profession included competing within the Olympics in Paris this yr. Though she positioned forty fourth within the marathon, individuals in her house space referred to as her “champion”.
She lived in Chepkum, a village in Kenya about 25km (15 miles) from the border with Uganda, in a rural space whose predominant financial exercise is farming. Residents additionally are inclined to cattle and it is not uncommon to see cows, goats, and sheep grazing exterior houses. The broader space, referred to as Trans-Nzoia county, is nicely generally known as Kenya’s greatest producer of maize, which is the principle ingredient for the nation’s staple meals.
Locals at a purchasing centre close to her home spoke fondly a few lady they generally waved at as she educated alongside the highway at any time when she was not in competitors or coaching in Uganda. Type and humble had been the phrases typically talked about by individuals there.
Whereas celebrated as an athlete, her private life was in turmoil. Her former classmate mentioned her efficiency on the Olympics was as a result of she didn’t “have peace” owing to the battle along with her ex-partner that started final yr.
“They used to dwell collectively however started falling out final yr due to cash,” her brother Jacob recalled. “He requested my sister, ‘what do you do with all the cash you make?”
Police instructed the BBC that the 2 had beforehand reported home disputes in several stations – which they withdrew.
As Ms Cheptegei’s household waits for justice, they proceed to arrange her last journey. She will likely be laid to relaxation on 14 September at their ancestral house in Bukwo, Uganda.
The Ugandan is the third athlete to be killed in Kenya within the final three years, the place intimate companions are named as the principle suspects by police. Athlete-led gender-based violence activist group, Tirop’s Angels, mentioned the development should finish.
“What’s heart-breaking is her kids witnessed their mom’s assault,” Joan Chelimo, a co-founder of Tirop’s Angels mentioned, as she fought again tears.
“This violence in opposition to athletes should cease.”