BY IRENE ONYANGO.
A Kenyan wanted for the murder of his girlfriend will be remanded at Industrial Area prison pending proceedings for his extradition to the USA.
Kevin Kinyanjui Kang’ethe will be held in prison after he was arrested following his dramatic escape from Muthaiga police station about a week ago.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Lukas Onyina allowed the application by the prosecution to detain Kagethe in prison after he escaped from police custody.
The fugitive was arrested by detectives from his hideout in Ngong last night and presented in court.
The prosecution told the court that having escaped from lawful custody, Kangethe cannot be returned to the same police station or any other station in Kenya not knowing the genesis of his escape or if anyone aided in the escape.
Director of Public Prosecution through prosecutor Vincent Monda while seeking for custodial orders stated that Kang’ethe had escaped police custody at Muthaiga Police Station on February 7th where he was to be held for 30 days pending extradition proceedings.
Monda further told the court that Kang’ethe was arrested in Ngong area on 13th February at his brother’s house a week later.
He submitted to the court that Kang’ethe cannot be trusted at a police station since there was a high chance of him escaping from the custody again hence seeking the court to remand him at Industrial Area Remand Prison.
The defense lawyer, Ahmed Mohamed, however disputed the application by the prosecution stating that Kang’ethe had not been charged of any offense known to the laws of Kenya hence cannot be put in custody at a Remand Prison.
Mohamed further stated that a Resident Magistrate, Zainab Abdul had given orders for Kang’ethe to be placed in custody at Muthaiga Police station pending the extradition and that was where he should be placed.
The court however, while making a ruling rejected the defense submission stating that it’s okay for two courts to give different orders in the same matter especially when the law has been broken in the process of completing the given days.
“It is normal for two courts or more to make orders remanding the same person at different facilities because each decision is made on the basis of its own peculiar merits,” ruled Onyina.
The court also overuled the orders sought by the prosecution to only allow Lawyers who are on record to visit Kang’ethe stating that it cannot limit a person of it’s rights to be given access to his lawyers.
Kang’ethe is accused of killing his 31-year-old girlfriend whose body was discovered inside a vehicle at Boston’s Logan Airport in November last year.
He was then arrested in Kenya and presented in court on a miscellaneous application where the prosecution was granted 30 days to detain him pending a determination on whether he would be extradited to the US.
