The family of Margaret Mbitu, the US-based Kenyan lady who was brutally murdered by her partner has spoken out for the first time in court.
Mbitu was fatally stabbed in October 2023, with the main suspect Kelvin Kan'gethe somehow evading arrest in the United States before making his way back to his home country.
Kang'ethe would three months later be apprehended as he was leaving a nightclub in Nairobi on January 31, 2024.
Nearly a year after the case came to national limelight, Kan'gethe was extradited to the US to answer for his crimes. He pleaded not guilty, but the judge ordered his detention without bail.
Mbitu's family members were present at the hearing on Tuesday and released different statements about the developments in the case.
"It has been a long journey coming. Today gives us hope and represents a step forward toward justice," Mary Kinyariro, who is the late Mbitu's cousin, said.
Joel Muhoro, another cousin, described the deceased as a kind young lady who had lofty ambitions in life.
"Today, we remember her kindness, her generosity, her smile and her infectious laugh, which lit up every room she offered," he said.
"We think about her dreams of being a business owner, of becoming a nurse practitioner to help care for others and we remember the hole left in our lives."
In the presence of the late Mbitu's family, the court heard the blow-by-blow account of what exactly took place on that fateful day in October 2023.
The suspect allegedly took a ride from his home in Lowell, Massachusetts in the US to Mbitu's workplace on October 30. According to prosecutors, he drove his girlfriend home in a different car registered in his name.
Sometime between picking Mbitu from work and driving her home, Kang'ethe allegedly attacked, stabbing the victim in the face and neck at least 10 times before leaving her body inside a heavily tinted car at the Logan Airport.
Prosecutors said the suspect drove for some time, looking for a place to dispose the body, before eventually abandoning it in the front seat of the car.
When Mbitu was found, her face was down and the seat was reclined. The suspect allegedly attempted to make it difficult to spot the body by covering it with random items. He then took a one-way ticket to Nairobi, Kenya.
A warrant for his arrest was issued once he was in Kenya and he was eventually arrested in January 2024 after a collaborative effort from the United States law-enforcement agencies and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Kan'gethe is set to return to court in November for a pretrial hearing.
