Kelvin Kangethe, the man who was awaiting extradition to the United States to face murder charges, escaped right under the nose of the Muthaiga Police Station Commander on Wednesday evening, police sources have told us.
Kang’ethe is accused of brutally killing his girlfriend at an airport in the US before he fled to his home country, Kenya on October 31 last year.
He was arrested last month at the Alcheimist nightclub in Westlands, Nairobi, after a four-month manhunt involving law enforcement officers from the US and detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
He was due to appear in court on Friday for his extradition case which has been filed by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
Police sources say that he escaped right under the nose of the station commander, who only became aware of the commotion as her officers attempted to pursue the fleeing suspect.
The station commander, Chief Inspector Esther Muchomba was at that time chairing a meeting with all the Anti-crime personnel and members of inspectorate while at her office.
According to the police, a man identified as John Maina Ndegwa arrived at the station at about 4 pm and introduced himself to the officers as a personal lawyer to Kang’ethe saying that he wished to talk to his client.
The officers are said to have obliged the request and went ahead to remove the suspect from the cells leaving him alone with his ‘lawyer’ in a different room; anti-crime office number 3.
After a short while, Kangethe took his chance and ran away towards Thika Road, leaving his lawyer behind.
Four police officers, Elijah Kipkiror (Cell sentry), James Maina (report personnel), Ann Wanjiku (station guard) and Hassan Saman (Station Guard) who were on duty have since been arrested as they undergo interrogation on the incident.
The advocate, John Maina Ndegwa, is also in police custody.
Kang’ethe is accused of killing a 31-year-old Kenyan-born woman based in Whitman, Massachusetts whose body was discovered inside a vehicle at Boston’s Logan Airport in November last year.
Following his arrest in Nairobi, Kang’ethe was presented in court on a miscellaneous application where detectives were granted 30 days to detain him pending a determination on whether he would be extradited to the US where he is wanted for murder charges.
