BY SAM ALFAN.
A 41-year old Kenyan suspected to have killed a woman in the US before fleeing to Nairobi will be detained for 30 days, pending proceedings for his extradition to the United States of America.
Kelvin Kangethe is suspected to have murdered fellow Kenyan Margaret Mbitu in Massachusetts, USA before fleeing.
He was presented before a Nairobi magistrate by officers from Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Zainab Abdul allowed detective to detain him for 30 days pending extradition to the USA, where he will face trial.
The investigating officer Inspector Patrick Wachira told the court Kangethe is being probed for murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code L.O.K (2010) and First-Degree Murder, in violation of Massachusetts General Law (G.L), chapter (c) 265. section 1 under the laws of the United States.
The officer told the court that Kangethe has no fixed home after he fled to Kenya and had not been seen at his known home in Thogoto in Kiambu County.
The court heard that the suspect was hiding from his family members and the authorities.
“Kangethe is a flight risk as he fled to the Republic of Kenya to evade justice and to hide himself from the Jurisdiction of the United States of America, thus if released on Bond/Bail terms the investigating team cannot guarantee that he will appear before this Honorable court,” detective told the court.
The officer pleaded with the court for the suspect to be detained at Gigiri Police station or any other police station that is convenient for mobile investigations.
Kangethe is alleged to have murdered Margaret Mbitu, aged 31-years on October 31, 2023, by stabbing her multiple times in the face and the neck.
He then locked her in a vehicle parked in a garage at Boston Logan International Airport before he fled the United States.
“On November 2, 2023. Chelsea District Court received an application for a criminal complaint charging Kangethe with the crime of first-degree murder and thereafter the Chelsea District Court issued a warrant of arrest of the Respondent for him to be extradited to the United States and be charged for the above-mentioned offense, ” the officer told the court.
He further stated that on the 9th January 2024, the US Embassy issued a Diplomatic Note No. 0095 to the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, indicating a request for provisional arrest against him.
He said the DCI in liaison with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, and the Office of the Inspector General worked together to ensure his arrest and Extradition to the United States.
He was subsequently arrested on the 30 January 2024 within Parklands in Westlands area.
The court heard that Kagethe and Mbitu, both residents of Massachusetts. USA, were in a relationship.
Mbitu was working as a home health care aid in the town of Halifax, Massachusetts.
She went missing on October 30, last year after leaving her place of work and efforts to trace her by her family were futile.
The family reported a missing person report to the Whitman Police Department who later enlisted the assistance of the Massachusetts State Police.
The preliminary investigations by the Massachusetts State Police indicated that the deceased person left Whitman after leaving her place of work and traveled to Lowell together with Mbitu where he lived, approximately 60 miles away.
Both Kagethe and the deceased person traveled to Lowell and at an unknown geographical location and time and it is suspected that he violently attacked and repeatedly stabbed Mbitu in the face and neck area, causing catastrophic injuries that led to her death.
After brutally stabbing her, he kept the body in the said vehicle, as he drove to different locations, to dispose of her mobile phone in a trash bin.
He later drove to Logan International Airport and parked the motor vehicle in a garage with the body concealed under a bag and several other items and proceeded to board a flight to Kenya.
The body was discovered on the 1 November 2023, at around 6:35pm, by police.
Kangethe later went into hiding in Nairobi but kept constantly communicating using various telephone numbers with his friends back at USA as well as a few of his family relatives and friends here in Kenya.
According to the DCI he Massachusetts State Police shared the information with DCI U.S Embassy including exhibits and sufficient evidence to support the request of the USA that Kagethe be extradited.
