Ugandan Athlete Cheptegei’s Death Rekindles Painful Memories for Domestic Violence Survivor By Reuters

NAIROBI/ELDORET, Kenya (Reuters) – Moureen Atieno Omolo struggled to sleep for days after learning about the tragic attack on Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend on Sunday.

Now 36, Omolo was haunted by her own traumatic marriage every time she shut her eyes.

Cheptegei, 33, who participated in her first Olympic Games in Paris last month, became the third elite female athlete killed in Kenya since October 2021, bringing renewed attention to the issue of domestic violence in the region.

“Rebecca’s death highlights the widespread violence that women face globally, often perpetrated by those they are meant to trust,” stated Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

According to a 2023 study by UN Women, a woman is killed by a family member every 11 minutes worldwide.

Cheptegei’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, expressed his family’s shock when speaking to reporters. “We haven’t gotten around to filing murder charges,” he said. The attacker, who also suffered burns and is hospitalized, was identified as the former boyfriend, from whom Cheptegei had split in February 2023.

On Friday, the Mayor of Paris announced that a sports facility in the French capital would be named in honor of Cheptegei, who placed 44th in her marathon debut there last month.

Kenya has a troubling history of violence against women.

Government data from 2022 reveals that nearly 34% of Kenyan girls and women aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence, with married women particularly at risk; 41% of married women reported facing violence. A report from UN Women and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime indicated that African nations recorded the highest incidence of killings of women in 2022, both in absolute numbers and in proportion to the continent’s female population.

Omolo, who lost her parents as a teenager, was married at the age of 15 to a 22-year-old man. She recounted that the abuse began almost immediately and escalated to life-threatening levels, including the loss of her left eye and severe injuries to her hand in 2018.

The violence, coupled with threats against their three children, ultimately led her to leave the marriage and pursue legal action. “I should have left him years ago when he first threatened me,” she reflected. “He took away my self-confidence.”

Cheptegei’s death has sparked renewed calls for stronger measures to combat domestic violence. Zaina Kombo of Amnesty International Kenya emphasized, “We are failing our women.”