This archive report was first published on 25 October 2021.
Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old mother of one, went missing on March 31, 2012, after an encounter with a British soldier at the Lions Court Hotel in Nanyuki, Kenya. Her body was discovered more than two months later.
According to her friends, Florence Nyaguthii and Susan Nyambura, Wanjiru had met them at the hotel bar on the night of her disappearance. She had been in the company of two white men.
‘Wanjiru joined us in the bar at around 11pm and we started dancing. She had a beer. I asked her to buy me some water. She told me that the beer was bought by a potential client,’ Ms Nyaguthii recalled.
Wanjiru left behind a nine-month-old baby, Stacy, under the care of her aunt Rose. Her friends reported her missing the following day, but the police were slow to investigate.
A post-mortem examination found that Wanjiru died as a result of stab wounds to her chest and abdomen.
British High Commissioner Jane Marriott has pledged to collaborate with Kenyan authorities to ensure justice is served.
‘I share the outrage and concern about the tragic death of Agnes Wanjiru in 2012. My thoughts are with her family and the community. I can assure Kenyans that the UK is fully cooperating with the investigation and will help in any way we can,’ Ms Marriott said.
The UK’s Special Investigation Branch carried out initial enquiries in Kenya in 2012, but no further requests were received at the time. Following the conclusion of a Kenyan inquest in 2019, the Kenyan authorities are now looking into the murder.
