Harrowing testimonies of death, starvation and mass burials unfold in Shakahola murder trial 

The Shakahola murder trial of controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie and his 29 co-accused continues at the Mombasa High Court before Lady Justice Diana Kavedza, with more chilling testimonies emerging from protected witnesses.

Among those who took the stand were four witnesses, among them two minors, and two men identified as E.K.K., C.A., and Israel Veronica Amanya, the daughter of two of the accused persons.

E.K.K. gave an emotional account of how his breastfeeding daughter died of starvation after being denied milk by her mother, who was fasting under Mackenzie’s teachings. He said his wife later succumbed to hunger as she adhered to the same starvation rituals encouraged at Shakahola.

E.K.K. told the court that he was a long-time follower of Mackenzie’s Good News International (GNI) Church in Malindi. After the church was shut down in 2019, he bought land and relocated to Shakahola with his then pregnant wife.

He further testified that he worked as a grave digger alongside several of the accused, burying the dead in mass graves at dawn and dusk under Mackenzie’s instructions, timed strategically to avoid detection by local herders passing by with livestock.

E.K.K. also identified motorcycles allegedly used by some of the accused to transport bodies to burial sites deep within the Shakahola forest.

Another witness, C.A., who was a minor at the time, presented a hand-drawn map of the Shakahola settlement, highlighting key locations such as Tiro, Sidoni, Emau, Galilaya, Bethelehemu, and Judea.

He told the court that he had led police to some of the graves after escaping from Shakahola.

C.A. also recalled enduring a harrowing seven-day fast and explained that he had moved to Shakahola with his mother after dropping out of school.

Meanwhile, Israel Veronica Amanya recounted the death of her three siblings and a sister.

She told the court how her mother tried to persuade her and her sister to embrace the fasting doctrine at Shakahola in the hope of “seeing God.”