How defilement in Shakahola happened under Mackenzie's nose -Minor

A 17-year-old has said that suspected Shakahola massacre mastermind Paul Mackenzie allegedly aided in the defilement of minors at the forest.

The minor who is under the state witness protection programme was testifying against Mackenzie and 97 suspects in the ongoing trial for manslaughter.

He stated that after hundreds of school-going children were forced to drop out of school after informing them that education was evil, they began attending bible classes at Mackenzie's Good News International church in Malindi.

"During the bible teachings, my younger sister, who had also dropped out of school, was defiled by one of the church elders inside the church," he stated.

The minor informed the court that his mother's efforts to have the case reported to the police were thwarted by Mackenzie.

"Mackenzie informed my mother that the matter should not be reported to police. He said it would be settled outside court," he said.

He went on to narrate to the court that following his sister's defilement ordeal, he opted to leave Mackenzie's church. However, his mother, while working closely with one of Mackenzie's guards, kidnapped him while he was in his sleep and took him back to the church.

"During the wee hours of a certain morning in the year 2020, l was woken up by my mother who was accompanied by a man named Robert. They managed to tie my hands and frogmarched me to the church and once inside the church, one of the men started beating me up," he stated while pointing at a suspect before court.

He told the court that more than seventy children, who had dropped out of school following Mackenzie's preachings, attended the bible classes.

"He often preached from the book of Corinthians and would insist that the word of the lord was against education and medical treatment," he stated.

Dropping out of school

He said he dropped out of school in 2017 after Mackenzie convinced his parents that education was evil.

"Upon dropping out of school, he ensured we attended bible classes at his Malindi church. We would attend the classes alongside my 13-year-old sister. We would also attend bible study from Monday to Friday," he stated.

However, the minor informed the court that contrary to Mackenzie's preachings, his four school-going children attended a private school in Malindi.

The state witness who was born a Muslim but converted to Christianity at the age of 11 following Mackenzie's preachings further told the court that whenever they fell sick they were never taken to the hospital for treatment.

"When any one of us became sick, we resorted to prayer. Our parents never took us to the hospital," he stated

He further informed the court that his mother, a staunch follower of Mackenzie, relocated to Shakahola in 2020 and during her stay there, she barely communicated with her family.

"She began by selling our household furniture and other items. We all thought she had relocated to a nearby farm, however, we later discovered that she had left for Shakahola," he added.

He claims that he last saw his mother in February 2023, and had phone communication twice during her stay inside the Shakahola Forest.

"There have been efforts to establish her whereabouts since 2023 and our search has not yielded any fruits. We viewed all the bodies that were exhumed from the Shakahola graves but we did not find her body. During our interactions with Mackenzie, he informed me that my mother had died. He never gave any further details about her death," he stated.