Dickson Ndiema, who was accused of murdering Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, has died in hospital.
Cheptegei passed away last week after being set on fire by her former partner Ndiema.
The 33-year-old Ugandan athlete, , who finished 44th in the women’s marathon at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, had been in intensive care for several days after suffering horrific burns to more than 80 per cent of her body.
An official police report claimed that Ndeima had doused Cheptegei in petrol in her home before setting her alight following an argument.
On Monday night, the Kenya Star and Nation newspapers reported that Ndeima had also succumbed to the 30 per cent burns he sustained during the attack.
He had been treated at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, where Cheptegei died just days earlier.
A postmortem on the body of Cheptegei, Uganda’s national record holder in the women’s marathon, will be carried out on Wednesday.
‘The hospital asked us to have the postmortem done and we accepted because it will help us to know what led to her death and also it will be part of closure for us as we mourn her death,’ Cheptegei’s father Mzee Cheptegei said.
Cheptegei was a member of the Uganda People Defense Forces (UPDF) and will be laid to rest with full military honors.