Shakahola trial: Children's officer recounts discovery of tortured, emaciated minors
Muteti told Principal Magistrate Hon Nelly Chepchirchir that between February and March 2023, Shakahola residents called their office to rescue emaciated children with stroke marks on their bodies.
A senior children’s officer Wednesday told the Tononoka Court about the brutality and torture suffered by children inside Shakahola Forest under the watch of prime suspect Paul Nthege Mackenzie and his associates.
Principal Children's Officer Sebastian Muli Muteti testified how the children had been isolated and indoctrinated with Mackenzie’s radical teachings.
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Muteti told Principal Magistrate Hon Nelly Chepchirchir that between February and March 2023, Shakahola residents called their office to rescue emaciated children with stroke marks on their bodies.
The 29th prosecution witness said a contingent of children and police officers embarked for Shakahola, where they were received by the Chief and local elders, who led them inside the dense Shakahola forest.
Some children had escaped from Mackenzie’s dragnet and were being accommodated by locals, the court heard.
The witness narrated that they divided themselves into groups before ransacking the dense forest in search of the minors.
His team bumped into four frail-looking children dressed in dirty clothes with visible stroke marks on limbs and on the back, deep in the forest.
The children told of a harrowing account of systematic beatings and torture from Mackenzie's security guards.
The four minors told rescuers about the ruthlessness of Mackenzie's gang, stating they were tied up and held in solitary confinement as punishment for disobeying orders.
The team interviewed the minors, who further revealed forced starvation of children and adults by Mackenzie’s armed men, crucifying anyone who attempted to escape from the horrendous treatment.
He testified that the children had visible signs of psychological and physical torture and were taken to the hospital for treatment and counselling before being taken to a rescue centre for care and protection.
He said the story of Mackenzie's controversial activities had spread like wildfire within Malindi prior to relocating his Good News International Ministries (GNIM) church from the Funzi area to Shakahola.
This week, court proceedings also revealed cases of parents removing their children from schools to join Mackenzie’s GNI church.
Two school managers produced evidence of learners who disappeared and ended up joining GNI but survived the gruesome Shakahola forest massacre.
Mtopanga Secondary School principal, Omari M. Omari, testified how a form two student disappeared mysteriously without a formal transfer.
Omar stated that the student disappeared in 2018, only for DCI detectives to visit his school after the Shakahola massacre seeking her school records.
A Kisauni-based private school head teacher, Mathew Maroko Samoita, also testified how a Grade 3 learner was removed by his parents from the school.
He also received the detectives investigating the massacre asking for details of the learner.
The two teachers produced exhibits including admission forms, academic progress reports and an attendance register and birth certificates, among others.
The two minors were among more than 10 children who have since testified against their parents and guardians charged with cruelty, torture and infringement of the right to education, among other child-related offences.
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