Soldier arrested over rape allegation
A UK soldier has been accused of raping a girl close to a British military coaching camp in Kenya the place one other soldier has beforehand been accused of homicide.
The alleged rape occurred final month near the British Military Coaching Unit Kenya (Batuk) close to the city of Nanyuki, 200km (125 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.
The person was arrested and questioned following the alleged incident after a bunch of troopers visited a bar within the city.
An investigation is being carried out by UK navy police from the Defence Critical Crime Unit which appears to be like into crimes allegedly dedicated by British service personnel within the UK and abroad.
The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed in an announcement {that a} “service particular person” had been arrested in Kenya.
“Unacceptable and felony behaviour has completely no place in our Armed Forces and any reporting of a severe crime by serving personnel is investigated independently from their chain of command,” the MoD stated.
The alleged rape involving a soldier from the British base in Kenya follows earlier allegations {that a} soldier stationed in Kenya was concerned within the homicide of a neighborhood girl in 2012.
The physique of Agnes Wanjiru, who was 21 and a mom of 1, was present in a septic tank close to the Batuk base three weeks after she disappeared, allegedly after spending the night with British troopers.
The Sunday Occasions reported in 2021 {that a} British soldier was believed to have been accountable for her homicide.
The MoD has since stated it’s cooperating with a Kenyan investigation into the incident.
The Batuk base was established in 1964 shortly after the East African nation gained independence from the UK.
The UK navy has an settlement with Kenya beneath which it will probably deploy as much as six military battalions a 12 months for durations of coaching on the web site.
However the British military has confronted a string of allegations in regards to the conduct of some UK personnel on the camp.
A public inquiry arrange by Kenyan MPs final 12 months heard particulars of alleged mistreatment of native folks by British troopers.
The allegations together with a reported hit-and-run incident, and claims that some British troopers had obtained native girls pregnant earlier than abandoning them and their kids once they returned to the UK.