No charges yet for murder of Kenyan woman

The family of a Kenyan woman who was allegedly killed by British soldiers have said their 13-year fight for justice has taken a ‘heavy toll’, and that they have been offered ‘too many empty promises’ after a meeting with the Defence Secretary, reports The Guardian. Agnes Wanjiru was 21 when she disappeared in March 2012. She was last seen in the company of British soldiers in a bar in a hotel in Nanyuki, a town in eastern Kenya where the British army has a military base, BATUK. Her body was found two months later, stuffed inside a septic tank at the Lion’s Court hotel. Six years ago, an inquest in Kenya found she had been murdered by one or more British soldiers. In 2021, a suspect was named by several soldiers who at the time were attached to the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, with one providing startling testimony in which he claimed that the killer, a fellow soldier, had confessed to him on the night and shown him Wanjiru’s body in the septic tank.

In a new statement, prosecutors in Kenya said that after the conclusion of police investigations, a file had been submitted for consideration. ‘The DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) has constituted a team of senior prosecutors to conduct a comprehensive review of the file,’ the statement said. ‘The DPP acknowledges the significant time that has elapsed in this matter and remains fully committed to ensuring justice for the family of Agnes Wanjiru.’ On a visit to Kenya last Monday, John Healey, UK shadow defence secretary,met Wanjiru’s family and emphasised his ‘determination to see a resolution’ to the case, promising the UK’s ‘full support’ for the investigation. According to The Guardian, Healey had previously called for more to be done to ‘pursue justice for Agnes and her family’. Kenyan prosecutors have already flown to the UK to interview witnesses and potential suspects, but no charges have been brought. Last year, the British army announced an investigation into the wider behaviour of troops stationed at BATUK, after what the Ministry of Defence described as ‘alarming allegations of unacceptable behaviour by service personnel deployed to Kenya’.

Full report in The Guardian