On February 7, murder suspect Kevin Kang'ethe made news when he escaped from custody at the Muthaiga police station, in Nairobi.
He was finally arrested and later extradited to the US on September
1, 2024. This was after months of litigation in court.
The incident made it to international news, especially in the US.
Kang’ethe was accused of killing a 31-year-old Kenyan-born Margaret Mbitu who
was based in Whitman, Massachusetts. Her body was discovered inside a vehicle
at Boston's Logan Airport in November 2023.
Margaret, a health care aide in Halifax, was last seen leaving work on October 30 and reported missing by her family.
The move to extradite Kang'ethe followed an order by a Nairobi court in July 2024.
It followed a six-month court battle since Kang'ethe was arrested in Nairobi after months of being on the run.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina found that the offence of murder to which the Extradition Request and the Authority to Proceed relate meets the test.
The court further said the material laid before the court established a link between Kang'ethe and the alleged offence of first-degree murder.
The judge stated that the court, not being a trial court, was not mandated to conduct a trial to determine
his guilt or otherwise.
"That will be the mandate of the trial court, not this court handling
these extradition proceedings,” Onyina said.
He said there are established reasons to justify the surrender of Kang'ethe to the
United States to face trial for the offence of first-degree murder in violation
of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 265, Section 1.
"The application is therefore allowed of prayer number 2, which
specifically the Respondent is hereby ordered to be returned and/or conveyed
out of Kenya and surrendered in the United States of America to face charges of
the alleged first-degree murder in violation of Massachusettes General Law,
Chapter 265, Section 1, for which he was formally charged by criminal complaint
in Case No. 23 CR-2559 in the District Court in Chelsea, Massachusetts,” the
magistrate ruled.
The extradition comes after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Renson Ingonga, assured Federal Bureau Investigations (FBI) Director Christopher Wray during talks in Nairobi in June 2024 that his office was keen to ensure justice involving this case is done in an expeditious manner.
The prosecution had urged the court to permit them to surrender Kang'ethe
for the murder.
Prosecution Counsel Vincent Monda told Onyina that his mandate was to only
ascertain that a link existed between the 'fugitive criminal and the criminal
incident'.
He said at the time Kang'ethe was arrested, he was found in possession of items belonging to the deceased.
Kang'ethe, according to the prosecution, had in his possession a driving licence belonging to Margaret as well as a debit card for Bank of America and a visa card.
These items are contained in an inventory.
He was arrested in Westlands on January 30 and was to be extradited when he escaped from custody at Muthaiga police cells.
He was re-arrested in Embulbul in Ngong on February 13 as he sought refuge at one of his relatives’ homes.
Kangethe, 40, had been detained pending a ruling on whether he should be
extradited to face a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of
Margaret Mbitu on October 31, 2023.
Kangethe was denied bail/bond by a court in the United States of America (USA) after pleading not guilty to murder.
He was arraigned before the Suffolk Superior Court in Pemberton Square, Boston, on September 3, 2024, and denied murdering Margaret Mbitu.
