The Shakahola radicalization case against controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie and 95 co-accused took a chilling turn at the Shanzu Law Courts after prosecutors unveiled disturbing videos, photographs, and heartbreaking testimonies from children who survived the ordeal.
Chief Inspector Erastus Sawe, a forensic expert with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), tabled video evidence of Mackenzie’s fiery sermons.
The clips, retrieved from months of investigation, showed the Good News International (GNI) leader discouraging formal schooling, government authority, and medical care.
“Mackenzie’s message was strong and convincing,” Sawe testified. “Being saved is to leave the earthly systems and follow the only true leader, Jesus Christ,” one sermon declared.
Sawe told the packed courtroom that he had personally reviewed the videos for nearly six months, day and night.
The experience, he admitted, left him emotionally drained.
“Ukiwa na imani fukufuku na uone haya, kwa hakika utaangamia,” he said in Swahili, meaning, “If you have a shallow faith and see this, surely you will perish.”
Senior Sergeant Livingstone Lihanda, another DCI forensic investigator, presented a grim photographic record of the Shakahola forest exhumations.
His images showed shallow graves, autopsies, DNA collections, and personal effects of the deceased, including children’s schoolbooks, Bibles, and birth certificates.
“Some graves were barely two feet deep,” Lihanda told the court. “In one site, we found six bodies placed side by side. We also documented Mackenzie’s well-kept home, meal plans, and several motorbikes believed to have been used by his followers.”
But it was the testimony of two children, appearing under strict witness protection, that silenced the courtroom.
Protected Witness AB, a 10-year-old boy, recounted the horror of forced fasting. “We were told that if we died of hunger, we would go straight to heaven,” he said.
The boy testified that his mother punished him for secretly eating after two days without food and even handed him over to one of Mackenzie’s aides, identified as “Steve,” who beat him with a thorny stick.
“My little brother was also forced to fast. He was given only sips of water. Later, I saw three children buried in sheets in a shallow grave. That’s when I ran away. Later, I learned my mother and my youngest sibling had died,” he told the court.
A second child, Protected Witness BB, aged 16, said he joined Mackenzie’s church in Nairobi in 2019.
He recalled how Mackenzie used scripture to manipulate followers.
“He said education, government, and hospitals were the work of the devil. Many of us believed him,” the boy testified.
Principal Magistrate Hon. Leah Juma listened keenly as prosecutors led by Jami Yamina, Antony Musyoka, J.V. Owiti, and Betty Rubia pressed on with the case.
More witnesses are expected to testify when the hearing resumes tomorrow.
