British army bosses accused of ‘covering up’ murder of Kenyan woman by their soldier
The British army is on the spot for allegedly covering up the murder of a Kenyan woman who was reportedly killed by a soldier in Nanyuki nine years ago.
Agnes Wanjiru 21, was murdered and her body was reportedly found near a septic tank of the Lions Court Inn in Nanyuki, close to a UK army camp on March 31,2012.
The report said that her killing was followed by a group of British soldiers holding a party night.
According to The Sunday Times, UK military officials covered up the murder of the mother of a 5-month-old girl, who was murdered by their soldier, who was on deployment as part of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) in 2012.
The identity of the killer was widely circulated in the media on the year of incidence after his fellow soldiers reported the killing of Wanjiru.
However, they also claimed their higher authorities had directed them to ‘keep their mouth shut’.
As per the media reports, her body was discovered in a naked condition at the Lions Court Inn in Nanyuki nearly two months after she was killed brutally by a British soldier.
“The alleged assassin from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, referred to as “Soldier X,” is said to have been named by at least five different soldiers. One of them, known as “Solider Y”, emphasised he informed the concerned authority about the alleged killing after a visibly distressed Soldier X had told them: “Help me, help me…. I’ve killed her,” Sputnik reported.
According to the news agency, the killer took his colleagues to the septic tank, where he dumped her body and showed the brutal condition of the woman lying lifeless in the gutter. “I looked in and I just remember seeing her in there. My heart sank. My mind just went blank. The only thing I could say to him was, I will never forgive you for this,” Sputnik quoted Soldier ‘Y’ as saying.
Further, the revealer of the case said that he informed his higher authorities and tried to convince the killer to confess his crime in front of the officers, but, the accused refused to accept his crime.
Another purported witness, ‘Soldier Z’, said Soldier X told his fellow he had killed Wanjiru by accident during sex by choking her, reported Sputnik.
Despite several pieces of evidence and witnesses the top officials of the British army decided to keep their mouths shut.
According to The Sunday Times, the Kenyan authorities send a formal notice to the British army to question the nine soldiers who were landed in Kenya for a military exercise.
However, the request appeared to have gone missing.
“In 2012, Special Investigation Branch carried out initial enquiries in Kenya, including providing information about British personnel to the Kenyan Police. No further requests were received at that time… Following the conclusion of a Kenyan inquest in 2019, we are aware that the Kenyan authorities are looking into this incident. The jurisdiction for this investigation rests with the Kenyan police, and we are currently in discussions with the Kenyan authorities to determine what support is needed,” Sputnik quoted the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as saying in a statement.
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey accepted the reports and said it showed “grave failings by the British military exposed in this case”.
Yesterday, British High Commissioner Jane Marriot confirmed that in 2012, the UK’s Special Investigation Branch carried out initial enquiries in Kenya, including providing information about British personnel to Kenyan police.
She added that no further requests were received at that time.
“Following the conclusion of a Kenyan inquest in 2019, we understand that the Kenyan authorities are looking into the murder. We will support that Kenyan police investigation…I can assure Kenyans that the UK is fully cooperating with the investigation and will help in any way we can,” she said.
