Kenyan prosecutors said Wednesday they have secured a court order to extradite a man accused of murdering his girlfriend in the United States in a case that made headlines after he escaped police custody in Nairobi.
Kevin Kang’ethe was the subject of a three-month international manhunt after he fled the United States for his native Kenya following the killing of Margaret Mbitu, who was found stabbed to death in a carpark at Boston’s Logan airport in November.
He was arrested in Kenya in January, but after just one week in detention Kang’ethe slipped out of a holding cell, to the deep embarrassment of the Kenyan police.
He was recaptured in February while hiding out at a relative’s home on the outskirts of Nairobi.
“A magistrate court in Nairobi has allowed application filed by prosecution seeking for extradition orders against Kevin Kang’ethe,” the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said in a statement.
Kang’ethe — who had opposed his extradition — will face first degree murder charges in the United States, prosecutors added.
Four police officers, two relatives and a lawyer were arrested in connection with Kang’ethe’s escape.
Mbitu, a healthcare aide in Halifax, Massachusetts, was last seen leaving work on October 30.
It was not immediately clear when Kenya would hand over Kang’ethe to the US authorities.