The family of Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old mother killed in Kenya, are taking legal action in an attempt to publicly reveal the name of the British soldier suspected of her murder.
The man is well known to the British Army and Kenyan police, but his identity has remained a secret from the public since the murder in 2012.
Wanjiru was last seen going to a bedroom with a British soldier at the Lions Court Hotel in Nanyuki on March 31, 2012. Her body, which had stab wounds, was later found in a septic tank. A postmortem examination found that she was possibly locked in the tank while still alive.
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Her family lodged the claim in Kenya’s High Court last year, asking a judge to make a ruling that would force the British Army to provide the names of the soldiers who stayed at the hotel on the night of her murder. They also want an apology for failing to investigate her death properly either at the time or in the years afterwards.
However, court documents show that lawyers for the UK government, representing the British Army in Kenya, have claimed “sovereign immunity” to prevent the release of the information. Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine, similar to diplomatic immunity, which prevents a government and its officials from being sued without its consent.
The government has previously invoked sovereign immunity in Kenya in relation to a wildfire at Lolldaiga wildlife sanctuary during an army training exercise in 2021. It destroyed 12,000 acres of land and killed one person. Others claim to have suffered smoke inhalation. The UK’s claim was rejected in 2022. The UK and Kenya signed an agreement in 2015 governing the terms under which soldiers would be allowed to operate in Kenya, which the judge said was in effect a waiver to immunity.
The government argued in the case of Abdul-Hakim Belhaj, a Libyan dissident, who successfully sued MI6 in the Supreme Court in 2017, that it should have been thrown out due to sovereign immunity. Belhaj was abducted in a CIA-MI6 operation and taken to Libya where he was tortured. The Supreme Court ruled that sovereign immunity did not bar the Belhaj case from being heard, and in 2018 the UK government formally apologised to Belhaj and his wife, Fatima Boudchar.
Colonel Andrew Wilde, an army officer based in Kenya, has provided evidence to the court in Nairobi which states: “The UK government does not consent to the jurisdiction of this court.”
He said the investigation into the death “is being undertaken by the National Police Service [in Kenya]”, and “the Ministry of Defence Serious Crimes Unit [has] been co-operating with the National Police Service in the ongoing investigation into the death of Agnes Wanjiru.” British government lawyers argue that the “sovereign immunity of the UK government should be upheld”.
Last week, Wanjiru’s family accused the British Army of a cover-up to protect the identity of her killer. Esther Njoki, Wanjiru’s niece and the family’s spokeswoman, said: “The British government using sovereign immunity shows the culture of impunity and cover-up when it comes to the actions of their soldiers in Kenya. This simply gives our family more pain, suffering and trauma, as no justice is being served.
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“We have gone to court to make this claim because of the delay and inaction by the British and Kenyan governments. We are shocked that the criminal investigation is still ongoing and that no charges or arrests have been made, when the authorities know very well who killed Agnes. This has become a running joke in Kenya and the people of Kenya will not stand for it.”
Mbiyu Kamau, of the family’s legal representatives, Mbiyu Kamau and Co Advocates, said the case aimed to “lift the lid of injustice, unmask the nasty cover-up, and show the world there’s no hiding place for crime, no matter how long it takes”.
A decision on the case is expected by Kenya’s High Court next month. The family are preparing to meet the British high commissioner for a second time on Monday.
A number of soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment have identified the murderer to The Sunday Times, whom we called Soldier X. One of them described in detail being shown Wanjiru’s dead body in the septic tank in the grounds of the hotel, which is close to a British Army camp, by Soldier X, who admitted killing her.
Soldier Y told The Sunday Times: “She [Wanjiru[ was in the tank. 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.’”
Soldier X is living with a family in a town in the south of England, despite soldiers openly naming him as the killer on Facebook. Some of the names of the soldiers staying at the hotel on the night of the murder were revealed during Wanjiru’s inquest in 2019, when a Kenyan judge ruled that she had been murdered by a British soldier or soldiers.
The British and Kenyan governments have an agreement that the army can train its troops in Kenya, carrying out live firing exercises in remote scrublands several hours outside Nanyuki. In exchange, Kenya receives an economic boost from the army bases, and its soldiers receive training from the British Army.
A permanent army base, called Batuk (British Army Training Unit Kenya), has a small number of permanent staff based in Nanyuki, who handle the logistics for battalions of troops who train in camps further out of town in Archers Post, a large military base in Samburu County.
Joseph Kotrie-Monson, a criminal lawyer whose firm, Mary Monson Solicitors, represents clients in overseas territories, said: “States regularly claim, sometimes successfully, a defence on the basis of the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Protecting individuals and their identities in a matter as serious as a homicide to prevent public scrutiny, rather than for operational reasons, would likely be something that goes against the principles that the British public expect. Such an approach could also affect our reputation and relations throughout the world.”
The defence secretary, John Healey, who pushed the government to act in the case while in opposition, has promised to pursue justice for Wanjiru.
The MoD said: “The defence secretary has long recognised the tragic circumstances of Ms Wanjiru’s death and maintains his commitment to the pursuit of justice for Ms Wanjiru, and her family, as a priority. Since his appointment to the role, he has directed that the department should take every possible step to ensure the fullest co-operation with the Kenyan authorities in this matter. The Kenyan authorities have jurisdiction on this matter and we are fully co-operating with them on their investigation.”
Additional reporting: Edwin Okoth in Nairobi
