Written by Joyce Nzomo
The Tononoka Children’s Court in Mombasa on Wednesday heard chilling new testimonies in the trial of preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 35 of his co-accused, who face multiple charges including child cruelty, torture, and denial of education linked to the Shakahola massacre.
Presiding over the case, Principal Magistrate Hon. Nelly Chepchirchir listened to a series of emotional accounts from families torn apart by the tragedy.
One of the witnesses, Charles Adundo, an elderly grandfather, recalled how he cared for two of his grandchildren after his daughter, a mother of ten, left them in his custody. He said his youngest son ; the 35th accused came one day and took the children from school. “That was the last time I saw them,” Adundo testified.
Another witness, 70-year-old Felida Vugusa from Kapkerer, told the court how her daughter, Sarah Khahisha, who had five children, disappeared along with her husband Mulama and all the children while Felida was at church.
She said the family had been attending a mysterious church she knew nothing about, and that Mulama opposed the children’s education. Among those who vanished was E.I., one of the witnesses.
The court also heard scientific evidence from Henry Kiptoo, a Government Analyst at the Government Chemist Department in Nairobi. He explained how his team collected 333 DNA samples from families with missing relatives.
Two reports dated August 6, 2024, and November 13, 2024, matched 69 bodies exhumed in Shakahola to relatives of the missing many of them children linked to the accused persons.
Additional forensic testimony came from Liwa Filbert, Director of the National Registration Bureau. He said fingerprint analysis using Form C4 was used to verify suspects’ identities. Several had provided false names, but the analysis confirmed the true identities of more than 35 accused persons.
The human toll was underscored by 26-year-old Khadijah Wilson from Shakahola’s Madukani area. She testified that she and her brother found a frail boy, identified only as P.P., sleeping outside their shop after escaping Mackenzie’s compound. The boy revealed he had been subjected to starvation and forced fasting.
Khadijah sheltered him for nearly four months before children’s officers took him into protection. “He was so malnourished that going to school was impossible,” she said. “If we hadn’t rescued him, he would have died.”
The case was adjourned to September 19, 2025.
