Kelvin Kinyanjui Kangethe, the murder suspect who shocked the country by escaping from Muthaiga Police Station has been re-arrested.
Kangethe was re-arrested exactly a week after his daring escape in Ngong town, Kajiado County.
According to a report filed at Ngong Police Station, the high profile suspect was arrested following a tip off from members of the public.
After receiving the tipp-off, Kajiado North Sub-County Police Commander Hussein Gura organised a team that included Ngong Police Station OCS Phillip Ole Nkindi and other junior officers to arrest Kangethe.
The officers included in this operation were Corporal Mutuma and Police Constables Okinda, Nderitu, Kantai, Muthoka, Kimathi, Mwadime, Kipngetich and Ibrahim.
These officers laid an ambush at Ngong township where the suspect had been spotted, about 3 kilometres west of the police station.
“[We] managed to arrest one Kelvin Kinyanjui Kangethe who had escaped from Muthaiga police station on 7/2/2024 (.) He has been placed in custody awaiting collection by DCI headquarters,” the police report reads in part.
Kangethe has since been transferred to Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Headquarters along Kiambu Road.
How did he escape?
Police say that it all started at around 4 pm on Wednesday, February 7. This was when a man who identified himself as John Maina Ndegwa came visiting, telling the officers on duty that he is the suspect’s lawyer.
Since it is the suspect’s right to talk to his lawyer, especially on the planned hearing of his extradition case on Friday, February 9, the police officers obliged.
Room Number 3
The officers then removed the suspect from the cells and took him to the anti-crime office, room Number 3, leaving him there with the ‘lawyer’.
A police report says that after a short meeting, the suspect escaped by running away and leaving the advocate behind.
“At the time of the escape the station commander Chief Inspector Esther Muchomba was chairing a meeting/lecture with all the Anti-crime personnel and members of inspectorate while at her office, she was alerted by a loud noise of officers who were chasing the prisoner along Thika Super Highway but they did not manage to re-arrest him,” the report further states.
The incident has raised many questions than answers.
Police officers arrested
How did the officers allow the meeting of the two to be held in an unmanned room? Even so, how did the suspect outmaneuver armed police officers from the said room, to an extent of getting out of the station?
Nonetheless, four police officers have since been arrested after the incident.
The arrested officers were on duty at the time of the escape. They have been identified as; Elijah Kipkiror (cell sentry), James Maina (report personnel), Ann Wanjiku (station guard) and Hassan Saman (Station Guard).
Also arrested is the ‘lawyer’.
Kevin Kangethe ‘Jumped onto moving matatu’
The arrested officers have told detectives handling the case that they realised Kang’ethe had escaped when they returned to the room and found the ‘lawyer’ alone.
Upon rushing outside, the officers say they saw Kangethe racing towards Thika Road, just beside the station. Before they could re-arrest him, he jumped onto a matatu at the bus stop, before the vehicle drove away.
The officers further say that amidst the haste they managed to pick the details of the said matatu. Efforts to trace the vehicle are underway.
