The case in which controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie and his 38 co-accused are accused of masterminding the Shakahola massacre continued Wednesday, May 22, in Mombasa, with a witness narrating to the Tononoka Law Courts how children were brutalised and tortured.
Principal Children’s Officer Sebastian Muli Muteti testified before Principal Magistrate Nelly Chepchirchir, detailing how the children were isolated, starved, and indoctrinated with radical teachings in the Shakahola Forest, under the watch of Mackenzie and his associates.
According to Muteti, between February and March 2023, concerned Shakahola residents contacted the children’s office to report emaciated children bearing stroke marks on their bodies. The 29th prosecution witness said a rescue team comprising children’s officers and police was dispatched to Shakahola. Upon arrival, they were received by the area chief and local elders, who guided them into the dense forest.
Visible lash marks, routine beatings
The court heard that some children had managed to escape Mackenzie’s control and were being sheltered by sympathetic locals. The rescue team, divided into groups, combed through the thick forest in search of hidden minors. Deep in the woods, they found four frail children dressed in filthy clothes, bearing visible lash marks on their limbs and backs.
Muteti told the court that the said children recounted disturbing stories of routine beatings and torture carried out by Mackenzie’s security enforcers. They described being tied up and held in solitary confinement as punishment for disobedience.
During interviews, the witness claimed that, the minors disclosed that both children and adults were subjected to forced starvation. They further alleged that Mackenzie’s armed followers crucified anyone who attempted to escape.
Muteti said that when they rescued the children, they exhibited clear signs of psychological and physical abuse. They were immediately taken to hospital for medical treatment and psychological counseling, and later placed in a rescue center for care and protection.
He added that even before relocating his Good News International Ministries (GNIM) church from Funzi to Shakahola, rumours of Mackenzie’s radical practices had already spread across Malindi.
Court proceedings this week also revealed disturbing instances of parents withdrawing their children from school to join Mackenzie’s cult. Two school administrators testified that learners who had disappeared under suspicious circumstances were later confirmed to have joined GNIM, though they survived the Shakahola tragedy.
Omari M. Omari, the principal of Mtopanga Secondary School, testified about a Form Two student who vanished in 2018 without any formal transfer. He said detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) later visited the school seeking the student’s records after the Shakahola massacre.
Similarly, Mathew Maroko Samoita, head teacher of a private school in Kisauni, told the court that a Grade 3 learner was withdrawn from the school by his parents under unclear circumstances. He, too, was later approached by investigators seeking details of the child.
The two educators presented documents including admission forms, academic reports, attendance registers, and birth certificates as evidence. The two learners were among over ten children who have since testified against their parents and guardians, who now face charges including child cruelty, torture, and denial of the right to education.
