Court finds Mackenzie and 30 others with case to answer in Shakahola saga

The prosecution received a significant win after the Mombasa Law Court found Pastor Paul Mackenzie and his 30 co-accused with a case to answer over the 191 counts of murder charges.

In a key ruling delivered today, the court, through Justice Diana Kavedza, found that prosecution had established a prima facie case against all the accused persons, placing them on their defence.

The prosecution called 121 witnesses in support of its case, including survivors, expert witnesses, and investigating officers, as well as presenting exhibits that included postmortem reports and government analyst findings, amongst others.

While delivering the ruling, Justice Kavedza stated that based on the totality of materials placed before her, it is not in dispute that bodies of children were exhumed at Shakahola, some of the remains were identified and released to the relatives for burial. She added that it is not disputed that several relatives of the accused persons testified before court as witnesses, confirming the deaths of their children.

Some witnesses placed some of the accused persons at or within the scene of the crimes and described them as village elders, guards, grave diggers, cooks, and others performing different roles within the settlement.

The defence told the court they will give sworn testimony and call 12 witnesses, 6 of whom are expert witnesses and the rest are the accused persons.

Pastor Paul Machenzie, alias Mtumishi, alias Nabii, and 31 individuals were charged with 191 counts of murder under Section 203 read with Section 204 of the Penal Code. However, one accused person, the 7th accused, Enos Amanya, alias Amos Ngala Amanya, alias Aleluya, entered a guilty plea and is awaiting sentence.
The ruling concerns the remaining 30 accused persons.

The case is prosecuted by the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Mr. Joseph Kimanthi and Mr. Jami Yamina; Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms. Ngina Mutua; Principal Prosecution Counsels Victor Owiti, Betty Rubia and Alex Ndiema and Prosecution Counsel Yassir Mohamed.