Kevin Kang’ethe (in red), a fugitive wanted by the United States for suspected murder, at the Milimani law court on February 14, 2024. The court ordered Kang’ethe to be detained at the Industrial Area Remand Prison until February 19, 2024.
A recent walk-out from Muthaiga Police Station by Mr Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kang’ethe, a murder suspect wanted in the United States of America (USA), has put officers on the spot and rekindled several incidents where detainees walk out of cells without breaking doors or gates.
Similar to how he managed to escape authorities in the United States of America (USA) where he is suspected to have murdered his girlfriend, Mr Kang’ethe strolled out of a police station where he was being detained awaiting a court ruling to expatriate him.
Mr Kang’ethe was re-arrested on Tuesday night and arraigned pending extradition hearings. His case has now seen security experts poking holes in the escape, accusing police of laxity and corruption, which they argue often play a role where officers take bribes and look the other way when suspects amble out of custody.
In fact, detectives believe that is exactly what happened with Mr Kang’ethe, who walked out barefoot from the Muthaiga Police Station, six minutes after being allowed out of cell number four by officers to discuss some legal issues with his lawyer. Police identified the lawyer as Mr John Maina Ndegwa.
The murder suspect had on October 31, 2023, allegedly ended the life of his girlfriend identified as Margaret Mbitu before leaving her body inside a personal vehicle and boarded a plane to Kenya.
The walk-out from the station led to the arrest of four police officers who were on duty when the suspect took off. Muthaiga is one of the police stations that has several un-uniformed officers operating outside its premises, and who have a penchant of making frequent arrests.
If the process of expatriating Mr Kang’ethe goes through, he will be charged in the USA where federal law allows only two sentences for first-degree murder: life imprisonment or death.
But the case of Mr Kang’ethe is not the first incident where detainees manage to escape from a police cell or prison facility leaving behind hapless officers on duty being put to task to explain the breach.
According to Kenyan law, any person who is in lawful custody and escapes is guilty of a misdemeanour.
The general punishment imposed on conviction for a misdemeanour is a maximum of two years in prison and/or a fine.
In the last one year alone, cases of police cell escapes have been reported across the country, with security experts now concerned that they have become too common—but with a bigger worry that re-arrests, unlike in Mr Kang’ethe’s case, have become few and far in between.
Murder suspect Kevin Kinyanjui Kang'ethe escaped from police custody on February 7 and was re-arrested on the night of February 13.
On February 1, 2023, eight remandees who were scheduled to appear in court escaped from Koru Police Station in Muhoroni, Kisumu county.
The detainees were from Kodiaga Maximum Prison numbering 10 when they were taken to the station cells awaiting arraignment. The other two were in handcuffs, which made it easier to re-arrest them.
One of the numerous incidents that caught the attention of the authorities in Kenya is when six juveniles escaped custody in a September 11, 2023 incident.
The six bolted from police custody in Malindi, Kilifi county at midnight and interestingly to date none has ever been found.
They included one who was charged with stock theft from Vitengeni Police Station.
People walk past the entrance to Muthaiga Police Station in Nairobi on February 08. Kevin Kang’ethe (inset), who is accused of killing his girflriend in the US and fleeing to Kenya, escaped from the station.
The other was charged with threatening breach of peace from Malindi Police Station and the third was facing grievous harm allegations from Malindi Police Station.
The fourth faced a case of robbery with violence from Malindi Police Station while the other two were charged with stealing from Kijipwa Police Station while the last was charged with burglary from Kilifi Police Station.
“The six had been brought from different stations within Kilifi county and were remanded pending the hearing of the cases at the Malindi Magistrate Court,” a police statement on the matter read.
On February 1, 2024, Mr Benson Muchiri a businessman who is facing a murder charge following the mysterious death of his employee in one of his shops in Molo, Nakuru county also escaped from lawful custody.
Mr Muchiri was in the company of officers at Molo Police Station when he gained his freedom in unclear circumstances. During his arraignment at the Nakuru High Court, Muchiri fell ill, prompting the court to send him to the hospital. He was then taken to Nakuru hospital where he was admitted and put under the guard of police officers.
Mr George Musamali, a security expert, told the Nation that the two main reasons why detainees usually manage to escape from police custody is laxity and corruption.
He said that most of the incidents where people escape police cells involve high profile people with serious cases like in the matter of Mr Kang’ethe.
Casual treatment
“For instance in this case of Mr Kang’ethe how would an officer treat such a suspect in a casual way yet they know that the matter was serious?” posed Mr Musamali, adding that it was improper for the officers to allow the suspect to walk out of the cells without handcuffs, which is against the norm.
However, he said, it would be interesting to know that even officers who were on duty that night and who have been arrested over the escape could have been set up.
Mr Musamali advises that such a suspect should have been locked up in Kileleshwa or Gigiri police stations. He also said that the General Service Unit (GSU) headquarters in Ruaraka also have a police cell.
This was echoed by his counterpart Mr Hezekiah Ojuok, a security consultant and trainer who says there are two major ways of escaping police custody.
First, it could happen through a breakage where external parties and/or inmates use tools to break through cells or use weapons to force officers on duty to set the inmates free.
However, having been in the sector for three decades, this phenomenon of inmates escaping from custody is not unusual as it happens every now and then and the highlight of each escape is given prominence depending on who bolts successfully.
“Where there is an escape without breakage, officers stationed at the occurrence book, often two in number, should be arrested and investigated for negligence,
“However, when there is no breakage, there is a possibility that some money exchanged hands to ensure that someone is in custody,” he said.
In any case, whenever there is a break, the officer commanding station is tasked with conducting a thorough investigation to establish what exactly happened with the findings guiding the next corrective steps, he said.
The Nation contacted police boss Japheth Koome and the service’s spokesperson Dr Resila Onyango but they neither responded to our messages nor answered our calls.
