New harrowing details emerged on Thursday at the Mombasa High Court in the ongoing murder trial of Pastor Paul Mackenzie and 30 co-accused persons, as witnesses recounted how their loved ones were lured to Shakahola Forest and later died or vanished under the preacher’s radical teachings.
The 57th prosecution witness, Benson Mutimba from Webuye, told the court that Mackenzie had promised to buy him a helicopter if he remained loyal. Mutimba said two of his children, aged 27 and 16, abandoned school after being convinced that education was evil.
His eldest son, a student at Kibabii University, urged him to sell all his property and relocate to Shakahola, claiming Mackenzie was “a true man of God.”
After the children disappeared, Mutimba reported the matter to the DCI. Investigators later traced one of their phones to Malindi, with records showing that his son had sent KSh 200 to Mackenzie’s number upon arrival in Ukunda.
Another witness, Jesca Safari Kone, said three of her sisters and five of their children had died in the forest after following the preacher. Esther Anyango, the 59th witness, testified that her daughter died during childbirth in Shakahola, and she has since lost contact with her son-in-law and grandchildren.
Roseline Anivisa Asena, from Embakasi South, said her brother burned his children’s school report cards and birth certificates before moving to Shakahola. She later saw his wife rescued from the forest, severely malnourished.
The 61st witness, Florence Mwahita Mwaigo, testified that her son, one of the accused, lost his wife and child in Shakahola after embracing Mackenzie’s anti-education and anti-medicine doctrine.
The prosecution continues to present witnesses in the case, which involves the deaths of 191 people linked to the Shakahola massacre—one of Kenya’s darkest chapters in recent history.
