The funeral service has begun for Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend and later died.

Dickson Ndiema attacked her with petrol slightly below a fortnight in the past outdoors her dwelling in north-west Kenya, shut to the place she skilled.

The 33-year-old’s killing, and its brutal nature, left her household distraught and shocked many others the world over.

It underscored the excessive ranges of violence in opposition to girls in Kenya and the truth that a number of feminine athletes have been victims lately.

Cheptegei will obtain full navy honours on the ceremony in Uganda, having been a member of the armed forces there.

She died in hospital 4 days after the assault. Doctors mentioned she had suffered burns on greater than 80% of her physique which “led to multi-organ failure”.

Ndiema, who was additionally burned after a few of the gas splashed on his personal physique, died on Monday.

He attacked the mother-of-two after she returned from a service at a church, the God’s Dwelling Ministry.

The pastor there, Caroline Atieno, remembers a “great… God-fearing individual”.

After listening to about what had occurred, she managed to communicate to Cheptegei on the cellphone whereas she was in hospital.

The athlete first requested about her youngsters, who had been each nice, the pastor informed the BBC’s Africa Daily podcast.

Then Cheptegei talked about her attacker: “You imply Dickson isn’t in a position to see all I’ve accomplished for him? He couldn’t bear in mind even one or two issues I’ve accomplished for him and cease setting me on hearth? Why has he accomplished this to me?”

The funeral is being held in Bukwo, dwelling to her household in Uganda and shut to the Kenyan border.

On Friday, relations, buddies and activists in opposition to gender-based violence considered her coffin at a funeral dwelling within the Kenyan city of Eldoret, earlier than it was pushed away.

Her mom, Agnes Cheptegei, overlaying her face in anguish, was carrying a memento bag that the athlete acquired on the latest Paris Olympics, the place she got here forty fourth within the marathon.

She was wearing a T-shirt which had the slogan “being a lady shouldn’t be a dying sentence” printed on it.

The mother-of-two was the third feminine athlete to be killed in Kenya during the last three years. In every case, present or former romantic companions had been named as the primary suspects by police.

In 2021, world-record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to dying and 6 months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.

Attacks on girls have develop into a serious concern in Kenya. In 2022 no less than 34% of ladies mentioned that they had skilled bodily violence, in accordance to a nationwide survey.

Some observers are saying that feminine athletes have gotten more and more susceptible.

“[This is] as a result of they go in opposition to conventional gender norms the place the girl is simply within the kitchen and simply cooking and caring for children. But now feminine athletes have gotten extra impartial, financially impartial,” mentioned Joan Chelimo, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels to assist spotlight the difficulty of violence in opposition to girls.

“We don’t desire this to occur to every other girl, whether or not an athlete or from the village, or a younger lady,” Rachel Kamweru, a spokesperson of the federal government’s division for gender and affirmative motion, informed the BBC.

When Cheptegei first received into operating, she joined the Uganda People’s Defence Forces in 2008 which helped assist her.

Her final race was on the Paris Olympics. Although she got here forty fourth individuals in her dwelling space nonetheless referred to her as “champion”.

She gained gold on the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.