A 60-year-old man, Titus Ngonyo Gandi, father of a police officer who died in Shakahola on Tuesday, narrated to the Mombasa High Court how he lost four other family members in Shakahola.
Gandi told the court that in 2019, he began noticing troubling behaviour from his wife, Esther Mbila, who had started preaching against children going to school or receiving any form of education.
The witness said that his wife also warned neighbours against working for the government or acquiring government-issued documents, including birth certificates, identity cards, and academic certificates.
Gandi emotionally revealed that he has since buried his wife, two children, including the General Service Unit (GSU) officer, one grandchild, and his daughter-in-law, all of whom perished during the Shakahola incident.
The DPP presented another witness who lived in Shakahola and left the area in 2023 after followers were instructed to begin fasting for them to go to heaven.
Robert Kithi, a 23-year-old man, informed the court that the directive to starve was issued after a meeting allegedly chaired by Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who claimed the order to fast “came from God” as part of preparing for entry into heaven.
The witness confirmed that he had previously attended the Good News International Church in Malindi, which was shut down in 2020 after Mackenzie declared that the church’s mission was “complete.”
He told the court that Mackenzie later instructed followers to relocate to the Jagwani area in Shakahola to await the coming of the Messiah.
According to the witness, followers were told that a rapture would occur three years after 2021, ending in mid-2023. Believing this prophecy, many moved to Shakahola.
He told the court that he opposed the starvation directive and eventually fled when fasting intensified.
The witness also stated that he had been assigned security duties, including guarding a dam from wild animals, while he was living in Shakakhola.
He testified that he buried his two siblings in November, noting that his mother refused to allow him to retrieve the bodies, insisting that the siblings had “gone to the Messiah.”
DCI officer based at DCI headquarters, Paul Oguta, informed the court that he was instructed by his supervisor to travel to Shakakhola following a report that two children had been killed and buried secretly in Shakakhola.
In his evidence, the witness said a team that had accompanied him was shocked to find several individuals starving under the tree within the Shakakhola area.
“I was assigned to take the post-mortem of the victims who had died at Malindi Mortuary, and others were assigned to conduct exhumation,” said Oguta.
The witness told the court that he attended 88 postmortem exercises, and he produced the postmortem reports to the court.
He further clarified that he was present during the exercise to witness the process.
The other witnesses who testified on Tuesday in the murder case against Paul Mackenzie and 30 others are the Registrar of Companies.
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