The Agnes Wanjiru murder case, which shook Kenya in 2012, is finally seeing legal developments. A first hearing took place on November 29, 2023 at the Milimani court in Nairobi, highlighting the gray areas surrounding this horrific crime.
Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old woman, was found dead in the septic tank of a hotel in Nyanyuki, a town located in the center of the country. She was last seen with a British soldier near the UK’s Nyanyuki training camp. Despite an investigation launched in 2019, the details of this tragic affair had never been made public.
However, two years later, several testimonies from British soldiers were published by the weekly The Sunday Times, reporting confessions from the main suspect. This revelation relaunched the investigation and led to the opening of the trial in Kenya.
However, the legal procedure encounters significant obstacles. Of the ten original defendants, only two have provided the documents required by the court to date. The British army, for its part, believes that she should not be tried in Kenya, thus raising the question of where the crime was actually committed.
Lawyers for Agnes Wanjiru’s family express disappointment over efforts by the prosecutor’s office to avoid bringing the defendants to court. They continue to demand that justice be done and believe that the Kenyan courts are perfectly capable of holding this trial.
The judge granted the sued parties seven days to comply with the court orders. However, the victim’s niece, Esther Njiko, denounces the bad faith of the authorities and the manipulation of which the family is the victim due to their precarious economic situation.
The Agnes Wanjiru murder case has been adjourned to May 21. Lawyers for the British army in Kenya have not yet responded to RFI’s requests.
This case highlights the difficulties victims and their families face in obtaining justice when wrongdoing involves government officials or representatives of other countries. It is hoped that the trial will establish the truth about Agnes Wanjiru’s death and finally bring justice to her family.