Court detains murder suspect Kevin Kang'ethe until February 19

Murder suspect Kevin Kang'ethe, who has been rearrested in Kenya following a daring escape from police custody, will be detained at the Nairobi Area Remand and Allocation Prison until February 19.

Kang'ethe is the main suspect in the murder of his girlfriend Margaret Mbitu, whose body he dumped parked at the Boston International Airport before fleeing the US.

He was supposed to appear in court on February 9 for the hearing of an application for his detention for 30 days but he escaped from police custody two days before. This hearing has been postponed to February 19.

Kang'ethe had been awaiting a court ruling on his detention after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) petitioned Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina to order him held at that facility for 30 days, pending a formal application for his extradition to the United States.

In court on Wednesday, Onyina noted that the ODPP's submission that the murder suspect escaped from lawful custody was not challenged by the defence.

The February 19 hearing will determine whether the suspect will be detained for 30 days, pending the extradition proceedings. The US formally requested Kenya to extradite Kang'ethe but the Kenyan government must obtain the order from its courts, hence the extradition proceedings.

In his arguments, Senior Assistant DPP Vincent Monda had also noted that Kang'ethe breached security by receiving unauthorised visitors while at the Muthaiga Police Station in Nairobi, from where he fled under unclear circumstances on February 7.

Monda's application relied on an affidavit of Inspector of Police Patrick Wachira, from the headquarters of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), who said Mutahiga officers had been instructed to treat Kang'ethe as a dangerous suspect and only grant him limited visitations.

Wachira added that by escaping from a police station, Kang'eth demonstrated that he was a flight risk and that he intended to evade justice.

Kang'ethe escaped just two days before the court made its ruling on the ODPP's application to have him detained for 30 days pending the extradition hearings.

He had earlier been visited by a man who identified himself as his lawyer John Maina Ndengwa.

The suspect was moved from the cells and escorted to one of the offices in the police station, where he engaged privately with Ndegwa.

He fled, leaving the visitor behin. Police officers chased after him on the Thika super highway but were unable to re-arrest him. The visitor and four police officers custody were arrested and placed in police custody.

Kangethe was initially arrested on January 30 in Parklands and was locked up at the Ngingiri Police Station before he was handed over to the DCI’s homicide unit, which presented him in court seeking to detain him for 30 days pending the extradition hearings.

He was rearrested  on Tuesday evening in Ngong, Kajiado County.