Video evidence played in Shanzu court as Shakahola massacre trial resumes

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Video recordings of sermons by controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie were on Monday played before the Shanzu Law Courts in the ongoing trial over the Shakahola massacre.

The evidence was presented by Chief Inspector Erastus Sawe, a forensic expert with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). 

He told Principal Magistrate Leah Juma that the clips, collected from months of review, showed Mackenzie preaching against formal education, government authority, and medical care.

Mr Sawe said the messages were “strong and convincing” and could easily sway vulnerable followers.

 One sermon declared: “Being saved is to leave the earthly systems and follow the only true leader, Jesus Christ.”

The officer testified that he had watched the footage for nearly six months “day and night” and admitted it had left him emotionally shaken.

 In Swahili, he added: “Ukiwa na imani fukufuku na uone haya, kwa hakika utaangamia” — meaning, if someone has a shallow faith and sees this, surely they will perish.

Senior Sergeant Livingstone Lihanda, another DCI forensic investigator, also presented photographic evidence. 

The images documented mass graves in Shakahola Forest, exhumations, DNA collection, and personal belongings recovered at the scene, including Bibles, schoolbooks, and birth certificates.

Mr Lihanda said some graves were barely two feet deep and five feet long, with one containing six bodies laid side by side. 

He also noted that Mackenzie’s homestead was well kept, with a detailed meal plan pinned on a wall, and several motorbikes believed to have been used by followers were recovered.

Two minors under the Witness Protection Agency gave emotional testimony.

Protected Witness AB, a 10-year-old boy, told the court that children in the camp were forced to fast and told they would “go straight to heaven” if they died of starvation. 

He said his mother beat him when he secretly ate food after two days without a meal and later handed him to “Steve,” described as one of Mackenzie’s aides, who whipped him with a thorny stick.

The boy said even his toddler sibling was denied food and given only occasional sips of water. 

He recounted seeing three children buried in a shallow grave and later learned that his mother and youngest sibling had died in the forest.

Protected Witness BB, a 16-year-old boy, testified that he joined the Good News International church in Nairobi in 2019. 

He recalled Mackenzie twisting Bible verses to discourage education, medical treatment, and government services, describing them as “the work of the devil.”

The prosecution team — Mr Jami Yamina, Mr Antony Musyoka, Mr J. V Owiti, and Ms Betty Rubia — is expected to continue presenting more witnesses when the hearing resumes on Tuesday.