The family of a murdered Kenyan woman accuses UK military of seeking answers | Stories

A British soldier has confessed to killing Agnes Wanjiru and showing her friends where she lost her body.

The family of a young Kenyan woman who was allegedly killed by a British soldier nearly a decade ago are planning to sue the military for answers to her death, their lawyers said on Wednesday.

The body of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru was found in 2012 after a visit by British troops to a hotel in the central Nanyuki region, where the UK military is based.

The British newspaper The Sunday Times reported last month that a soldier confessed to killing Wanjiru and showed his friends as he dumped his body in a water tank behind the hotel.

The revelations prompted a new call for investigation and justice for Wanjiru, and Kenyan police last week announced they would reopen the case.

“We are advised by the Agnes family to oppose the Security Ministry for failing to investigate the alleged assassination of her in 2012,” Tessa Gregory, a partner of Leigh Day law firm that is handling the case, told AFP news agency. .

“Our clients want justice for Agnes but they also want answers to what the British military knows and why over the past nine years the Security Council appears to have done nothing to address the alleged brutality of Agnes’ murder at the hands of a British soldier. . ”

Wanjiru was last seen one night in March 2012 with a British soldier from the military and his body was found two months later.

The British High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Marriott last month expressed “outrage and regret” over Wanjiru’s death and promised extra help in Kenya’s investigation into his assassination.

Since Kenya gained independence in 1963, hundreds of British foot soldiers have passed through a training camp just outside the city of Nanyuki called BATUK for strenuous exercise.

Although their presence has boosted the local economy, there have been disputes and misconceptions in the past.