UK Promises Justice for Kenyan Mother Allegedly Killed, Dumped in Septic Tank by British Soldier
Rose Wanyua Wanjiku, elder sister to Agnes Wanjiru, 20, who was allegedly killed by a British soldier in 2012, holds photographs of Agnes, at Rose’s house in the Majengo informal settlement in Nanyuki, Kenya, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. 
Muhammad OsmanReports revealed the identity of a British soldier who confessed to killing a Kenyan woman, Agnes Wanjiru, and dumping her body in a septic tank in October 2021 after getting intimate with her in a hotel in Kenya in 2012. Despite the soldier’s confession, the crime was reportedly “covered-up” by the UK Army.The UK has claimed to be willing to bring justice for the Kenyan mother murdered in 2012, allegedly at the hands of a British soldier, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told Kenya’s President William Ruto on Wednesday during his visit to Nairobi.The lifeless body of Agnes Wanjiru, a mother of a five-month-old baby girl, was found inside a septic tank at Lion’s Court Inn hotel in the town of Nanyuki in central Kenya in March 2012, almost three months since she was last seen walking into the hotel from a nearby bar accompanied by one or two British soldiers.At the time, Kenyan police, which requested cooperation from the UK Ministry of Defence, launched an investigation into the case, but they were not able to identify the murderer of the 21-year-old mother. In 2019, a Kenyan court concluded that Wanjiru had been murdered by one or two UK servicemen.
“We take our responsibility incredibly seriously to ensure that there is a proper legal process and that any perpetrators are brought to justice and we will continue working closely with the Kenyan government on this,” Cleverly said, as cited by the British media.
In 2021, one of the soldiers who was at the hotel narrated what happened the night Nanyuki was killed, accusing the UK Army leadership of “covering up” the incident. Following the accusations, the Royal Military Police launched a murder inquiry, but the results of the investigations were never made public.The witness quoted in the media report claimed that his comrade led him, along with a group of other soldiers, to the hotel’s septic tank, where they found the body of the young woman.“He took me to the tank and lifted it up, and 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’ll never forgive you for this’,” the witness said, according to the publication, adding that nothing happened to the killer after the incident was reported to the British Army Training Unit Kenya.Kenyan police reopened the investigations into Wanjiru’s murder following the British media report.Nanyuki’s killing is one of many reports of British soldiers being involved in unlawful deeds, especially when dealing with the locals. In March 2021, British Army personnel on a training excursion were blamed for starting a fire that destroyed part of the 49,000-acre Lolldaiga Hills Ranch wildlife conservancy, with one of the soldiers reportedly writing a social media post about his role in the arson.
“Two months in Kenya later and we’ve got only 8 days left… been good, caused a 4.5k fire, killed an elephant and feel terrible about it but heyho when in Rome,” the soldier wrote on Snapchat, according to media reports.
