Kenyan murder suspect extradited to US
Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kangethe, a Kenyan citizen wanted in Massachusetts for murder, has been extradited nearly a year after fleeing the US, authorities announced on Monday.
Kangethe, 40-year-old, is alleged to have violently killed his girlfriend Margaret Mbitu, whose body was discovered in a car at Logan International Airport in Boston on the morning of October 31, and then fled to Kenya. He left Nairobi on Sunday and is scheduled to appear in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston on Tuesday to face murder charges, according to Kenyan Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga.
After Kangethe fled to Kenya, he was apprehended on January 30 in Nairobi County, but escaped from custody shortly after. Kangethe was recaptured on February 7, nearly a week after his breakout from Muthaiga police station.
The ruling which approved the extradition of the Kenyan citizen to the US to face charges of first-degree murder under Massachusetts law followed legal arguments presented by Prosecution Counsel Vincent Monda. The counsel emphasized that murder is listed as an extraditable offense under the existing treaty between Kenya and the US.
“The upshot of the foregoing is that, based on the findings made based on the reasons above, there are established reasons to justify the surrender of the respondent to the United States of America to face the offence of first-degree murder, in violation of Massachusetts General law,” the magistrate stated.
During the extradition hearing in Kenya, the prosecution revealed that a preliminary investigation showed Margaret Mbitu had left her workplace and traveled with suspected killer to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he resided.
Evidence presented in the case against Kangethe uncovered that he violently attacked and repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend in the face and neck, resulting in her death.
In another major homicide case, Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie went on trial on July 8 over the deaths of more than 430 of his followers in a forest area near his church. Mackenzie allegedly instructed his devotees to starve themselves to death so that they could “meet Jesus Christ before the end of the world.” However, autopsies show that some died from strangulation or suffocation.
