In delivering the ruling, the Milimani chief magistrate Lucas Onyina noted that based on the findings from the facts submitted by the DPP, they have justified reasons to surrender the respondent to the United States of America to face trial for the first-degree murder in the violation of Massachusetts General Law,
“The application by the DPP is now allowed and the respondent is hereby ordered be surrendered to the United States of America to face charges of the alleged first-degree murder,” ordered Onyina.
The court also noted that the exhibits provided in the supporting affidavit established the link between Kang’ethe and the alleged offence of first-degree murder alleged to have committed while in the United States of America before fleeing to Kenya.
The court also noted that those allegations remain unchallenged by the respondent.
The court also indicated that the warrant of arrest issued against Kang’ethe, the extradition request and the authority to proceed all indicate that the respondent is seeking to be extradited to the United States to face trial for an alleged offence of first-degree murder,
“From the material before the court, there is no doubt that murder is an offence in both Kenya and the United States of America and description of the offence in both jurisdictions need not a copy cat of replica of each other,” the magistrate noted.
The court also heard that from the materials before the court, there is no indication for which Kang’ethe is sought to be surrendered to the United States of America is political or that the said alleged offence is triable in Kenya.
From the materials before the court, the alleged offence is alleged to have been committed in the United States of America before he fled to Kenya.
“The offence wholly was committed outside the jurisdiction and this brings to the fore provisions of section 5 of the Penal Code, chapter 63 of the Laws of Kenya.
The court further heard that the alleged offence meets the dual criminality test.
Kang’ethe was arrested on January 30, 2024, within Parklands in Nairobi county and booked at Gigiri police station vide OB No. 02/30/01/2024 at 0037 hrs in connection with the offence of murder of Margaret Mbitu in Lowell, Massachusetts on October 31, 2023, in the United States.
Both the suspect and the deceased were residents of Massachusetts and were in a relationship.
Mbitu was a home healthcare aid in the town of Halifax Massachusetts.
The deceased went missing on October 30 2023 after leaving her place of work and efforts by the family to trace her were futile.
The family reported about their missing person at Whitman police department and later enlisted the assistance of Massachusetts state police.
Preliminary Investigations were that the deceased left her place of work and travelled to Lowell with Kang’ethe where he lived a distance of approximately 60 miles away.
United police found out that the deceased and Kang’ethe travelled to Lowell riding in a Toyota Venza white in colour on the morning of October 31, 2023.
Kangethe violently attacked and repeatedly stabbed Mbitu in the face and neck causing catastrophic injuries that led to her death.
After killing her, Kang’ethe drove the vehicle to different locations as he disposed of the deceased cellular phone in a trash dumpster before driving to Logan International Airport and parked the vehicle in a garage with the body of Mbitu concealed under a bag and other several items.
On November 1, 2023, police discovered the body of Mbitu in the front passenger seat of Kang’ethe’s Toyota Venza car.
He escaped and returned to Kenya through JKIA and went into hiding in various suburbs of Nairobi county where he used various phone numbers to call his friends in the USA as well as his family, relatives and friends in Kenya.
