Witness in Shakahola trial holds hope on missing children amid DNA, postmortem findings
A man testifying in the ongoing Shakahola massacre trial expressed hope that his four missing children are still alive, despite DNA and postmortem results indicating otherwise.
Antony Wyclif Muhoro, 44, appeared before the Mombasa High Court today, where pastor Paul Mackenzie and 29 co-accused are facing charges related to the deaths of 191 people in what Prosecution believe was as a result of a deadly cult operation.
Muhoro told the court that although investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) informed him in September that DNA profiling had matched him to the remains of a seven-year-old girl exhumed from Shakahola, he has struggled to accept the findings.
He said he has not visited the morgue where the body lies, nor has he claimed it.
Prosecution confirmed in court that both the DNA analysis and a postmortem examination established a 99.99 percent likelihood that Muhoro and his wife, Millicent Oyayi Awour, were the child’s biological parents.
Yet the father remains steadfast in his belief.
“Your Honour, I am a prayerful person. In my dreams, I have seen that all my children are alive,” he told the court.
“My wife has also told me they are alive and asked me to visit her in prison so she can tell me where they are.”
Awour is currently being held at Shimo La Tewa Prison as the trial proceeds. According to Muhoro, she assured him during their communication that their children were safe, though she declined to reveal their location.
The witness recounted how, in March 2023, his wife informed him that Mackenzie’s followers in Nairobi had been warned to flee the city due to fears of election-related violence.
She told him she was travelling to Siaya to care for her ailing mother, but instead diverted to Malindi with their children, where groups of followers were reportedly gathering.
Muhoro said he realized something was wrong when he later saw news reports indicating Mackenzie had been arrested for allegedly compelling his followers, including children, to fast.
He immediately reported his family missing at Makongeni Police Station.
A week later, he received a call from Malindi Sub-County Hospital alerting him that a rescued victim had provided his contact information.
When he arrived in Malindi, he found his wife hospitalised and initially unable to speak. Once she regained her voice, she told him she had left the children with a woman identified only as Mama Nadia, who has never been traced.
Following this, investigators directed him to undergo DNA testing, leading to the results presented in court.
On Wednesday December 3, 2025, the prosecution called seven witnesses, many of whom shared emotional accounts of losing loved ones to the alleged cult activities in Shakahola.