![]() The family moved here in 2013, in an attempt to wipe out the bad memories after Wanjiru’s death. Their one-bedroom house is dimly lit and it is difficult to make out the couple’s facial expressions. Wanyua and her husband, John Wachira, live in Majengo, Nanyuki, where most homes are made of rusty corrugated iron sheets and rickety wooden planks. The family comes from a poor background – so poor that it took weeks to fundraise the 7,000 shillings needed to buy a coffin – and lacked the financial muscle to summon the strong legal representation needed to fight it out with the British government. The family is especially appalled by the apparent cover-up of the events that led to Wanjiru’s death and the lacklustre manner in which previous investigations were conducted by those the family had put their hopes in. She was a hair stylist who used to make my daughters’ hair, never the prostitute as many would like the world to believe,” says Wanyua, referring to soldiers who are part of the British army training unit in Kenya (BATUK). “A friend told my sister that there was some ‘quick money’ to be made that evening if only Wanjiru joined her in entertaining the Johnnies in town. She abhors the now “unanimous conclusions out there” that Wanjiru was a sex worker who frequented Nanyuki’s entertainment hotspots looking for male clients. Shiru did not deserve to die the way she did,” says Wanyua, using a diminutive form of her sister’s name. The death, Wanyua says, affected her more than their mother’s, which occurred when Wanjiru was a small girl. Wanyua is reserved, and would rather keep quiet when asked about the events that led to Wanjiru’s death nine years ago. She still has one question for the killer: “What did my sister do to you to deserve this?” The claims, and subsequent global media interest in the story, have put Rose Wanyua, Wanjiru’s eldest sister, on edge, not sure of what to make of this “new” information. Recent media reports claiming that a British soldier had confessed to a fellow squad member to killing the 21-year-old woman and dumping her body in a septic tank at Lions Court hotel have reignited a fire that her family and friends thought was long extinguished.
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