By Tajeu Shadrack Nkapapa
A Shanzu court heard that Paul Mackenzie’s armed militia stripped women naked and tied their legs to starve them to death and the burials of the victims of his massacre were celebrated as ‘weddings’ of martyrs destined to be received by Jesus Christ in heaven.
A witness, who sought protection, cried in court while narrating how he and some land buyers heard groans of women crying for help from Mackenzie’s expansive farm adjacent to his parcel of land.
He and three women who wanted to buy his land stopped to establish the source of the disturbing female voice.
The witness and his visitors spotted four emaciated naked women lying “on what appeared to be mat spread under a tree canopy pleading” crying for help with strained voices.
He mentioned that he was informed by a friend regarding instances of individuals dying of hunger within Mackenzie’s farm, and it turned out to be true when he witnessed those women.
The individual recounted that a band of men carrying machetes and other primitive weapons appeared from the woods and hindered their attempt to save those women with alarming threats.
He indicated that they scrapped their initial plan and headed to Lango Baya police station before being instructed to report the occurrence to the Malindi Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) offices.
The following day, he led a team of detectives to the forest and discovered more emaciated women and men rescuing between 15 to 16 people and arrested some four-armed men.
According to the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions, one of two rescued women died after being pulled out of a grass-thatched hut while another man died in an ambulance rushing survivors, including a 17-year-old boy, to Malindi sub-county hospital.
According to a high-ranking police official at Lango Baya police station, it was reported to the court that on March 17, 2023, two individuals reported a couple who had abandoned their three children, leading to them suffering from starvation in Shakahola “kwa Mackenzie”.
Senior Sergeant Cyrus Irungu recounted the events in which the group of men, along with a malnourished eight-year-old boy, guided them through sections of Shakahola forest filled with burial sites.
The minor had been discovered in the care of an elderly woman who managed to flee while the officers searched the area for other victims.
“The minor told us his mother had gone for a “harusi” (burial/wedding ceremony) and directed us to a few metres from their house and pointed to a flattered grave of his brother’s “harusi” place, meaning burial site,” Cyrus Irungu said.
He stated that they returned to Lango Baya police station and reported to the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) who called for reinforcement that led to more discovery of graves rescuing of survivors and arrests of suspected Mackenzie’s followers.
Mackenzie and 94 co-accused face charges related to participating in organized criminal activity, radicalization, and aiding the commission of a terrorist act, as well as possessing an item linked to an offence under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2012.
It is alleged. that from 2020 to 2023, the individuals accused, who were affiliated with the Good News International Ministries, a structured criminal organization, participated in organized criminal behaviour in the Kwa Mackenzie area of Shakahola Forest, Chakama Location of Magarini Sub-County within Kilifi County, putting lives at risk and causing the deaths of 429 members and supporters.
Further hearings of the case continue from 22-25 July 2024 at Shanzu Law Courts.