A Shanzu court Tuesday heard that cult leader Paul Mackenzie exploited religion to lure hundreds into Shakahola forest before massacring them.
According to a witness under protection, Mackenzie used technology and social media to lure victims into the secluded forest before indoctrinating them with religious extremism and radicalization ideologies.
The court heard Mackenzie had a cabinet which he chaired regularly to plot the massacre of unsuspected individuals he deceitfully led them into his trap.
Once inside the villages, the victims were indoctrinated into his radical teachings anchored on doomsday under strict supervision of the armed militia tasked to deal with any escapee.
The armed militia disguised as Good News International Ministries (GNIM) church followers, secluded families, who had brainwashed with teachings including discarding worldly affairs and loathing the state system.
Mackenzie also promised his victims plenty of farmland within Shakahola forest on which they will farm and build homes.
Senior Principal Magistrate Leah Juma heard that the future of men, women and children shut down like a rat trap once they are inside the forest.
The prosecution team includes Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecution, Peter Kiprop, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina, plus Principal Prosecution Counsels, Anthony Musyoka, Victor Owiti and Betty Rubia alongside Senior Prosecution Counsel Peris Ogega.
Further, the court heard that victims were cut off from the rest of the world and their lives were brutally snuffed out as days passed.
Magistrate Juma attentively listened as the witness, testifying inside a witness box away from the eye-hooked Mackenzie and his 94 co-accused, painted a vivid picture in her mind of the horrendous scene of carnage that occurred inside the forest between 2020 and 2023.
Mackenzie and his deputy, Smart Deri Mwakalama and a clique of trusted radical men and women were identified as the killers of innocent souls inside Shakahola forest.
The tales of the witness appear like a horror movie with the trial magistrate taking notes of the testimony that will form part of the prosecution evidence intended to place Mackenzie and his- accused at the scene of the crime.
The court heard that Mackenzie opened a social media account to mobilize people from far and wide.
One by one, people of different walks of life streamed into the forest situated about 200 kilometers from the Shanzu court room that started hearing the case on Monday.
Men and women, some married, arrived with their children after Mackenzie assured them of abundant land with the forest.
Each arrival was gifted with some few acres of land sold to them at a throw away price to put up their homesteads.
The villages were christened biblical names like Bethlehem, Judea and Jericho, among others.
The court heard the land was a bait to lure the victims into the forest and some lost their portion for defying Mackenzie’s radical teachings including travelling to Babel (Malindi town) without his permission.
The brainwashed parents were informed that taking their children to schools and hospitals were ungodly acts and any non-biblical literatures were destroyed.
Later, Mackenzie ordered parents with children to starve them to death to let them enter heaven, something they implemented under strict supervision of his armed militia.
The witness who managed to escape described the deaths of children as harrowing and heartbreaking that still haunts him.
Hearing continues Wednesday.
Mackenzie and 94 others are charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, radicalization and facilitating the Commission of a Terrorist Act, and being in possession of an article connected with an Offence under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2012.
It is alleged that on various dates between 2020 and 2023, the accused persons, who were members of the Good News International Ministries, an organized criminal group, engaged in organized criminal activities at Kwa Mackenzie area of Shakahola Forest, Chakama Location of Magarini Sub-County within Kilifi County, endangering lives and killing 429 members and followers.
They are also accused of promoting and/or adopting an extreme belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence namely fasting to death by advancing religious change, which occurred between 2020 and 2023 at Shakahola Forest within Kilifi County.
The accused persons are also said to have facilitated the commission of a terrorist act by transporting the members and followers of Good News International Ministries between Shakahola Forest and Malindi Township within Kilifi County, thereby endangering their lives.
It is alleged that Mackenzie and two others, within the same period at Furunzi area in Malindi Sub-County within Kilifi County, were found knowingly in possession of CDs, DVDs, books and pamphlets for use in instigating the commission of a terrorist act, namely endangering the lives of the members and followers of the Good News International Ministries.
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