Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei's father calls for justice after she was burned to death by boyfriend

The father of the 2024 Paris Olympics distance runner who died days after her boyfriend set her on fire called on authorities to take action.

“As it is now, the criminal who harmed my daughter is a murderer and I am yet to see what the security officials are doing,” Joseph Cheptegei told reporters at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Kenya where Rebecca Cheptegei died of full organ failure on Sept. 5. She was 33.

Noting he has a "lot of grief," Joseph told authorities, “I seek your help so that this person who has killed my daughter can be prosecuted.”

The father was pertaining to Dickson Ndiema, who doused Cheptegei in gasoline and set her on fire at her home in Kenya on Sept. 1. She had purchased land in Trans Nzoia County to train for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she placed 44th in the marathon.

The attack happened during a dispute between Cheptegei and Ndiema about the land the house was built on.

She suffered burns to 80% of her body, according to the MTRH's acting head.

A day before her death, a medical counselor said Cheptegei's condition had worsened and that she had developed a sepsis infection.

Ndiema, meanwhile, suffered burns to 30% of his body. He was "improving and stable" at the intensive care unit, according to the Associated Press.

The attack on Cheptegei has again thrown a spotlight on domestic violence in Kenya. It came two years after Kenyan-born athlete Damaris Mutua, 28, was found dead in Iten, a world-famous running hub in the Rift Valley.

In 2021, record-breaking Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop, 25, was found stabbed to death at her home in Iten. Her estranged husband is on trial over her murder and has denied the charges.

The latest figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics published in January 2023 found that 34% of women in the country had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.