The Shakahola massacre case against Pastor Paul Mackenzie and 38 others exposed the harrowing depths of cruelty inflicted on children by the Good News International Church.
Senior Sergeant Joseph Yator, a former investigator, delivered chilling testimony about two children allegedly suffocated by their mothers after failing to die from forced fasting, a practice promoted by Mackenzie’s cult.
Yator recounted obtaining a court order to exhume the children’s remains, only to find their initial graves empty.
One body, later exhumed from a different site, was confirmed via DNA testing to match relatives’ samples with 99% accuracy, underscoring the cult’s attempts to conceal its crimes.
The court also heard from Julius Kiprotich, whose emotional testimony painted a grim picture of his family’s destruction.
Kiprotich described how his wife, Alice Kawira, a follower of Mackenzie’s anti-education teachings, destroyed their children’s schoolbooks and uniforms, withdrew them from school in Eldoret, and relocated to Shakahola without his knowledge.
Kawira also removed her ill mother from hospital care, discarding her medicine as “satanic,” and celebrated the death of their secondborn child instead of mourning, believing it aligned with the cult’s apocalyptic ideology.
Hellena, Kiprotich’s mother, corroborated his account, confirming Kawira’s actions tore the family apart.
The testimony highlighted the cult’s devastating impact, with over 440 bodies exhumed from Shakahola’s mass graves, many showing signs of starvation and torture.
