A witness in the Shakahola massacre case narrated to a Mombasa Court how Paul Mackenzie relocated to the area after successfully negotiating sale agreements with settlers of the vast land.
The controversial preacher then made goodwill payments, commonly referred to as “Kajama” in the Mijikenda community before settling on the land.
Shadrack Yaa, the eleventh witness in this case involving Mackenzie and 95 others, told court he had resided in the land since birth 42 years ago.
He was led in his testimony by the prosecutions team consisting Senior Assistant DPP, Peter Kiprop, Assistant DPP, Jami Yamina, PPC Betty Rubia, J.V Owiti and Alex Gituma, SPC Victor Simbi and PC Yassir Mohamed and PC Hilary Isiaho.
A businessman and farmer who owns a cereals shop in Shakahola, the witness further explained his family had occupied the vast land for decades before Mackenzie, whom he had watched preach on TV, joined them as a neighbour.
After initially purchasing land from his uncle, Yaa said Mackenzie approached him and they agreed on a deal for him to sell the preacher 10 acres of land in exchange for Sh50,000 in Kajama.
That agreement, the court heard, was signed at Mackenzie’s church in Furunzi, Malindi, in 2020.
Soon after, several visitors who “had short hair and dressed decently” occupied the land and consistently visited the Baya’s shop to purchase cereals.
In 2023, the witness says a neighbour at the Shakahola land confided in him that Mackenzie had sold him a piece of land in the farm on condition he “doesn’t farm or work”.
The neighbour later claimed the same land “had been allocated to someone else”.
The witness later received a distress call in which he was informed 14 children had died at Mackenzie’s farm in controversial circumstances.
He reported the matter to authorities in a telephone call and hours later, Mackenzie was arrested in an event that was widely reported in the mainstream media.
The witness said he later visited the farm in the company of an area politician and policemen and they stumbled on “very weak people” who were rescued and taken to hospital.
Earlier, the tenth witness in the case also testified before Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku.
The witness who is under witness protection revealed to the court how he was forced by his father to convert from Islam to Christianity and follow the teachings of Paul Mackenzie via Times TV whom they referred to as “Mtumishi”.
The witness added that, his father who was also a muslim but converted to Christianity also forced him out of schooling in 2021 while at standard seven in a school in Nairobi and ferried him to Shakahola.
The witnesses further told the court that in his teachings, Mackenzie told them to avoid registering for the Huduma number since it was an animal’s mark that is satanic.
He added that Mackenzie quoted several Bible verses which he said were supporting his statement that education and seeking medical treatment was against the will of God.
The court further heard that during meetings called by Mackenzie, he told them that they were delaying the coming of Jesus by fasting periodically thus directed them to fast continuously to hasten the process beginning with children, youth, women and elders then Mackenzie was to be the last one.
He added that some parents protested Mackenzie’s directive that they can’t allow their children to fast till death and left the meeting with their children but those who were in support remained and enforced the directive.
He also told the court that parents were assigned the duty of monitoring and ensuring their children follow the order of fasting and should not allow them to access the main road since they would mingle with the unholy who Mackenzie referred to as Wamataifa and curtail their journey to meet Jesus.
He also told the court when people died, they conducted funerals referring to weddings leading people to heaven. He noted that he attended some of the funerals where he witnessed people celebrating and ululating as they buried the dead.
He added that Mackenzie had appointed reporters in different settlements who were tasked with announcing his meetings and funerals to the people in Shakahola.
The hearing continues.
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