British army chief ‘appalled’ at claims troops were involved in Kenyan woman murder
The head of the army has said he is “appalled” by allegations that British soldiers may have been involved in the killing of a Kenyan woman.
General Mark Carleton-Smith said he was determined to work with the authorities to establish the facts in the killing of Agnes Wanjiru.
In a statement shared on Twitter, Carleton-Smith said: “I am sure you are all as appalled as I am at the recent allegations surrounding the murder of Agnes Wanjiru in Nanyuki, Kenya, in 2012. I want you to know I am determined we support the appropriate authorities to establish the facts of the issue as quickly as possible.”
However, he did not say whether that should include an investigation by the Royal Military Police.
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 defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said he is waiting on a request from Kenya for assistance in finding Wanjiru’s killer.
“The defence secretary has been impatient with the pace of this, and has directed full cooperation. He has worked with the military police and Kenyans to ensure their investigation is not impeded,”a defence source told the PA news agency.
The Sunday Times reported that a soldier accused of the murder has been named by his comrades after he allegedly confessed to the killing and that another soldier reported the killing to senior officers at the time, but the military took no action.
Labour has called on the government to investigate any possible “cover-up”. The shadow defence secretary, John Healey, described the killing of Wanjiru as “dreadful” and called on ministers to act on “reports of grave failings by the British military exposed in this case”.
He added: “There’s been no MoD-led investigation of the soldiers involved and no inquiry into why the MoD failed to respond when Kenyan detectives asked for help. Nine years on, justice must now be done for Agnes and her family.”
Wanjiru dropped out of high school and later became a sex worker to look after her baby. She was last seen by witnesses on the night of 31 March 2012 walking out of a Nanyuki bar accompanied by two British soldiers.
Her body was later discovered behind a room where the soldiers had stayed, with missing body parts and a stabbing injury.
According to the Sunday Times, a Kenyan judge presiding over the 2019 inquest concluded that Wanjiru had been murdered by one or two British soldiers.
“I have formed the opinion that Agnes was murdered by British soldiers. It may have been one or two. But what is certain is that it was British soldiers because they were dressed in their uniform,” Njeri Thuku said.
The judge said a broken mirror and blood were found in a room at the Lions Court hotel and there may have been a “cover-up”.
She ordered two further criminal inquiries. Despite Kenyan police investigations and inquiries by Ministry of Defence investigators, no one was brought to justice, the Sunday Times reported.
Source; The Guardian
