The British Military can not hold ignoring the homicide of our good friend in Kenya

Greater than a decade after Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old mom, was killed in Kenya, allegedly by a British soldier, a Kenyan courtroom has issued an arrest warrant for a UK nationwide. If there may be an extradition, it might be the primary time a serving or former British soldier is shipped overseas to face trial for the homicide of a civilian – a transfer her buddies would welcome.

On the evening she went lacking on 31 March 2012, Agnes begged her childhood buddies Good friend A and Good friend B to return out together with her.*

Agnes and Good friend A had been each new moms, each 21-years-old, each eager to let off some steam.

Good friend B was desirous to exit too, and agreed to satisfy them on the bar at Lions Court docket Lodge – situated within the enterprise district of Nanyuki, a market city in central Kenya, round 124 miles (200km) north of Nairobi.

That night, Good friend B’s mom agreed to look at over Agnes’s five-month-old daughter for a small babysitting payment. With childcare settled, Agnes and Good friend A set off, making their first cease at a bar known as Sherlock’s.

“There have been plenty of muzungu (white) males there,” says Good friend A. “I bear in mind some had been in plain garments and a few had been in military garments.”

The British Military has a everlasting coaching assist base in Nanyuki, and white males, a lot of them troopers, had been a well-recognized presence. Locals referred to them as Johnnies, a nickname that carries unsavoury connotations.

“They made me uncomfortable as a result of I might heard dangerous issues about muzungu males,” Good friend A remembers.

“Muzungus do not deal with us Kenyan ladies properly,” provides Good friend B. “Johnnies, particularly, mistreat us. They disrespect us.”

For younger ladies like Agnes, the dangers of participating with these males had been typically weighed in opposition to the battle to make ends meet.

“When ladies are financially determined, they may do virtually something to outlive,” Good friend A says. “I do not imagine Agnes was a intercourse employee although. I by no means noticed her try this. She was very poor.”

Her buddies say that on an excellent day Agnes would earn round 300 Kenyan shillings – lower than £1 ($1.35). On a nasty day there was nothing in any respect, and he or she relied on the goodwill of her loving elder sister.

Agnes didn’t have any monetary assist from the daddy of her baby, and her buddies say she was consistently attempting to earn cash, principally working in salons and braiding folks’s hair, at occasions turning to extra unconventional means.

One methodology, Good friend A remembers, was easy: Agnes would befriend somebody who provided to purchase her a drink, then quietly ask the bartender to skip the drink and hand her the money as a substitute.

At Sherlock’s bar that evening, Good friend A was scrolling by means of Fb when she seen Agnes in what seemed to be a tense change with a white man.

“Once I approached her to ask her if she was OK, she informed me to go to Lions Court docket as deliberate and that she would be part of me shortly.”

Good friend A continued on to the resort, the place Good friend B and several other others had been already dancing. A crowd of white males was additionally current.

Agnes joined them a short time afterwards.

She informed her buddies she had “cheekily” tried to take a muzungu’s pockets, however a bouncer had intervened. The matter appeared resolved, her buddies say. And to her buddies, Agnes appeared relaxed.

“She was in excessive spirits,” says Good friend A. “She was joking round.”

At round midnight, Good friend A left for dwelling, leaving Good friend B and Agnes and their buddies dancing.

“The muzungus had been shopping for us drinks, and Agnes was returning them to the bar in change for cash,” Good friend B provides. The 2 began mingling with different buddies. A short while later, Good friend B says she noticed Agnes go away the bar with one of many white males and assumed that they’d come to a consensual association. Different reviews say that Agnes was seen leaving with two males.

The subsequent morning, Good friend B went to Agnes’s home and noticed her fearful sister, who informed her that Agnes had not returned. She rushed to her personal mom’s home, the place she discovered Agnes’s child nonetheless in her care.

By early night when Agnes had nonetheless not returned, Good friend B and one other good friend went to Nanyuki police station to report her lacking, and return the child to Agnes’s sister.

For days, Agnes’s buddies looked for her. At Lions Court docket, a watchman informed them there had been “an enormous combat” in one of many resort rooms that weekend and a window had been damaged.

Almost three months later, Agnes’s physique was found in a septic tank close to the resort. She had been stabbed. Good friend B and one other good friend went to the mortuary to see Agnes’s physique.

“I felt horrible,” Good friend B says. “I could not think about one thing like this might occur.”

It could take years earlier than Agnes Wanjiru’s homicide drew wider consideration.

Kenyan decide Njeri Thuku concluded after an inquest in 2019 that Agnes had been murdered by one or two British troopers. The Sunday Instances solely revealed that Agnes’s killing, allegedly by a British soldier, was well-known amongst the troops in Nanyuki. The publication reported that the soldier was struck off by the military however continues to reside freely within the UK.

“I imagine that there are numerous males chargeable for Agnes’s demise,” Good friend A says. “Many males know what occurred, and plenty of have lined it up.”

Momentum constructed once more in 2024 when Open Democracy reported that the British Military had did not self-discipline troopers for paying for intercourse regardless of such conduct being explicitly banned in 2022, following the allegations involving UK troops in Kenya.

This prompted an inside investigation in August 2025, which revealed that some troopers on the base had been nonetheless participating in transactional intercourse with ladies, a lot of whom had been susceptible, coerced, or trafficked into intercourse work.

In April this 12 months, UK Defence Secretary John Healey met Agnes’s household, in Kenya to supply his condolences and problem an announcement saying the British authorities “will proceed to do every part we will to assist the household safe the justice they deserve”.

On 16 September, a Kenyan Excessive Court docket issued an arrest warrant for a British nationwide suspected of murdering Agnes Wanjiru.

If extradited, it might be the primary time a serving or former British soldier is shipped overseas to face trial for the killing of a civilian.

“It’s extremely welcome and a optimistic step in the direction of the arch of justice,” says Kelvin Kubai, a lawyer on the African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Motion. “Nevertheless the battle is not but received, given the authorized hurdles of extradition proceedings, and we hope the related authorities establishments of each states shall proceed cooperating to satisfy the ends of justice.”

Agnes’s niece, Esther Njoki, has created a GoFundMe web page with a purpose to elevate cash to assist the household, journey to the UK and create extra consciousness concerning the homicide of her aunt.

“We have to push for monetary safety for Agnes’s daughter,” Esther says, including that she is now a youngster.

And Agnes’s buddies agree that justice has been delayed too lengthy.

“The British Military can not hold ignoring the homicide of our good friend,” Good friend A says. “We would like justice for Agnes and her daughter.”

The BBC has requested the Ministry of Defence for remark.

*The BBC has modified the title of all folks listed as witnesses by a Kenyan Excessive Court docket

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