By Tajeu Shadrack Nkapapa
A sombre mood engulfed the Shanzu Law courts as witnesses broke down while recounting the loss of their loved ones in the Shakahola forest massacre.
This has fond memories of their departed family members reduced Dr. Lewis Thoya Sirya and a vulnerable minor, aged 8, to tears.
For more than one year since his arrest, Dr. Sirya, a senior consultant surgeon had not met his younger brother Evans Kolombe Sirya until Wednesday 10th July 2024 when he appeared in court to testify and greeted him.
The emotional siblings hugged each other, and when the witness stepped onto the witness stand to give testimony, Shanzu Senior Principal Magistrate Leah Juma had to pause her writing and allow him a moment to compose himself.
Evans had a stroke while being held at Shimo La Tewa Prison and is now using a wheelchair.
The witness informed the court that his brother was an ordinary individual who pursued a career as a contractor following his graduation with a diploma in clearing and forwarding.
Additionally, he mentioned that his brother became influenced by radical religious beliefs after becoming a member of the Good News International church led by Paul Mackenzie, the main suspect in the Shakahola massacre.
The witness also stated that his brother organized a family gathering and encouraged everyone to join that ministry.
According to Dr Sirya, efforts by the family to prevail upon his young brother to abandon Mackenzie’s radical teachings and concentrate on his thriving construction business hit a dead end.
He told the court that in 2018 he noticed his younger brother alongside his wife Mbodze Mwatsuma had withdrawn their children from Saint Andrew Primary School in Malindi.
“Upon receiving this information, I called my brother to my residence and asked him why he had done so, to which he responded that education was un-Godly and not part of God’s plan,” he testified.
Dr. Sirya further informed the court that at the time the couple made the decision not to take their children to school, they were both ardent followers of Pastor Mackenzie at his Furunzi church in Malindi.
He narrated that in the year 2019, Pastor Paul Mackenzie closed his Malindi-based churches and relocated with his adherents to the Shakahola forest in the Chakama Location.
Hon. Juma heard that a man who had managed to escape from the forest informed the witness of the death and burials of his brother’s two children due to starvation inside the forest. In response to this news, he mentioned that he departed for Shakahola with a former General Service Unit (GSU) officer who had lived in the forest and was familiar with his brother’s whereabouts within the forest.
“I basically wanted to go there for fact-finding with a view of seeing my brother and also confirming if his children had died and buried there,” he alleged.
The witness told the court that flanked by relatives and other neighbours he left for the forest in 2023 after being informed of the deaths of hundreds of Mackenzie followers who had died due to starvation.
Upon arrival at the Shakahola forest, he found Mackenzie’s guards armed with bows and arrows who assaulted him and arrested their guide, the ex-GSU officer, who was later taken to Langobaya police station.
“I wish to further state that on 14th April 2023 at around noon, I received a call from the then Sub-County Criminal Investigations Officer, Malindi, a Mr Kamau, requesting ambulance services in Shakahola for purposes of rescuing emaciated followers of pastor Paul Mackenzie within the said area,” he told the court.
“I left for Shakahola while aboard Malindi sub-county Hospital’s ambulance but upon reaching the Baolala area, we met with the police officers who confirmed that three out of the persons in the police Land cruiser were already dead and two men out of the rescued persons who appeared to be in critical condition were transferred to our ambulance,” he added.
The witness went on to tell the court that they rushed the two to Malindi Sub-County Hospital where one of them escaped immediately upon arrival while the other was admitted for treatment.
“On 16th May 2023, I received information that my younger brother Evans Kolombe Sirya had been arrested in respect to the deaths in Shakahola and was being held at Watamu Police Station. I have since visited him although I do not know the whereabouts of his wife or his children whom I have now come to learn should be numbering six because he got more children during the period when I was not interacting with him,” the witness said.
While he visited his brother at Watamu Police Station, he enquired from him about the whereabouts of his wife and children but Evans Sirya informed him that he had taken them to a secret place in November 2013 and that they were all safe.
The hearing of the case continues at Shanzu Law Courts.