By Neville Oduor
A chilling account of child abuse in the Shakahola Forest was laid bare at Tononoka Court on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, as Principal Children’s Officer Sebastian Muli Muteti testified against controversial preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his associates.
The court, presided over by Principal Magistrate Hon. Nelly Chepchirchir, heard disturbing details of torture, starvation, and indoctrination endured by children under Mackenzie’s Good News International Ministries (GNIM) cult.
Muteti, the 29th prosecution witness, recounted how his team was alerted by Shakahola residents in early 2023 about emaciated children with visible stroke marks.
“We were contacted between February and March 2023 by concerned locals who reported children in dire conditions,” Muteti told the court.
A rescue operation, involving children’s officers, police, and local elders, ventured into the dense forest, where they discovered four frail children dressed in filthy clothes, their bodies marked by lashings.
The children revealed harrowing tales of routine beatings, solitary confinement, and forced starvation, allegedly enforced by Mackenzie’s armed followers.
“They described being tied up and tortured for disobedience,” Muteti testified, adding that escape attempts were met with crucifixion by the cult’s enforcers.
The rescued children, showing signs of severe psychological and physical trauma, were rushed to a hospital for treatment and later placed in a rescue center.
Muteti noted that Mackenzie’s radical practices had been rumored in Malindi even before he relocated GNIM to Shakahola.
The court also heard from school administrators Omari M. Omari and Mathew Maroko Samoita, who confirmed that several students had been withdrawn from their schools to join the cult, with some surviving the Shakahola tragedy.
Mackenzie and his associates face charges of child cruelty, torture and denying children their right to education, following the 2023 Shakahola Forest Massacre, where over 429 bodies were exhumed.
The case has spotlighted the dangers of unregulated religious groups in Kenya, a country where 85% of the population identifies as Christian.
As the trial continues, the nation watches closely, seeking justice for the traumatized children and closure for a tragedy that shocked the world.