A BRITISH “service person” has reportedly been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman near an army training camp in Kenya.
The alleged rape happened last month, with the man arrested after a group of soldiers visited a bar in the area near the town of Nanyuki, BBC reports.
2
2
Military cops have questioned the bar owner and security guards who were working the night of the incident that occurred close to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk), The Sunday Times reports.
According to the paper, the bar owner said: “They [soldiers] like this place and when I meet some of them in the supermarkets, they tell me they have been banned from coming here.
“Sometimes they get too drunk and I drop them at the gate for free.”
An investigation is being carried out by the UK military police from the Defence Serious Crime Unit.
The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed in a statement that a “service person” had been arrested in Kenya.
A MoD spokesperson said in a statement: “We can confirm the arrest of a Service person in Kenya.
“As the matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Defence Serious Crime Command, we will not comment further.”
A UK-Kenya defence cooperation agreement allows thousands of Brit soldiers to train in the East African country every year.
About 200 UK troops are based there permanently to train Kenyan soldiers.
Some Kenyan people have complained for a long time about the soldiers behaviour alongside the atmosphere around their training camp near the town of Nanyuki.
There was an outcry over the 2012 death of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru, who was last seen alive leaving a bar with British troops near their training camp.
Her body was tragically later found in a septic tank.
Wanjirus family has campaigned for years for the suspected perpetrator, a serving British soldier at the time, to be charged.
In April, UK Defense Secretary John Healey met with Wanjirus grieving family in Kenya and vowed to help the family secure the justice they deserve.
The British Army has launched an inquiry into allegations of unacceptable behavior by UK personnel in Kenya.
The MoD said in a statement that all British personnel in the country “have clear direction about how to behave, on and off duty, must complete mandatory training and attend compulsory briefings on conduct.”
It added: “We will have zero tolerance for unacceptable behaviour.”
