By Grace Gilo
The hearing of a case involving Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, the alleged mastermind of the Shakahola massacre, and 38 co-accused resumed on Tuesday before the Tononoka Children’s Court in Mombasa.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the accused persons face multiple charges, including torture and cruelty to children.
Five witnesses took the stand before Principal Magistrate Hon. Nelly Chepchirchir, offering harrowing accounts of the treatment suffered by children linked to Mackenzie’s Good News International Church (GNI).
Helen Mwikali Kimwele, the manager of the Mayungu Children’s Centre in Malindi, testified that in 2017, 43 children were rescued from their families, who were followers of the GNI.
These children were placed under her care by a senior children’s officer, based on court orders.
She presented an admission register containing detailed information about each child, including names, ages, guardians’ names, and contact details, some of which matched the identities of the accused.
According to Kimwele, the children, aged between 4 and 13 years, had been deprived of education and medical care. They were later released back to their families after the parents entered plea agreements before a Malindi court, promising to re-enroll them in school and seek medical treatment for the sick.
Tragically, the court heard that most of these 43 children later went missing and are now presumed dead, victims of the Shakahola massacre that occurred five years later in 2022.
“Some children who survived the ordeal, including starvation, denial of healthcare and other abuses, have since come forward to testify against their parents and guardians,” stated the ODPP.
“Two protected witnesses, a social worker from a children’s home and a private school principal, gave emotional accounts of the suffering endured by the children,” the ODPP added.
The social worker, appearing as the 24th prosecution witness, described how one of the accused, Gilbert Khea, used a court order and a lawyer’s letter to retrieve his 13-year-old son from the rescue centre on May 21, 2019.
“He signed the exit forms, promising to keep us updated on the child’s progress,” the witness said.
However, follow-up attempts failed after Khea’s phone was disconnected. In a dramatic twist, the court heard that on March 25, 2023, the boy returned to the rescue centre after escaping from the Shakahola forest.
He had cycled through the night and arrived severely weakened.
“A colleague called to say the boy had returned. We immediately contacted the children’s officers, re-admitted him, and began counselling and school reintegration,” the witness said.
The boy later recounted the horrific conditions in Shakahola and pleaded for the rescue of his younger brother, who sadly died of starvation.
In another testimony, a private school principal described how a member of the GNI church withdrew his two sons from school and took them to Shakahola. The children have not been seen since.
The trial continues, with more witnesses expected to testify in the coming days.