shakahola massacre Stories
The Kwa Binzaro tragedy, much like Shakahola before it, has left families shattered, parents mourning children, and children left without parents. Fo...
The trio had been arrested for allegedly selling a five-acre piece of land to the main suspect, Sherleen Temba Anido.
Titus Ngonyo Gandi narrated how his wife, Esther Birya Masha, drew their two sons, Harry and Isaack Ngala, into Mackenzie’s cult.
Omar Mohamed, appearing as the 58th prosecution witness, recounted how the minors were discovered during investigations into the conduct of followers...
The air was heavy with the smell of decay, yellow tape hung loosely from tree trunks marking exhumation sites, and exhausted officers trudged through...
Police IG Kanja revealed that the majority of the victims are believed to be non-locals.
The CS expressed concern over the rising number of cult-related deaths, lamenting what he described as the collapse of community vigilance and respons...
The prosecution argued that such testimonies illustrate how Mackenzie’s radical sermons compelled parents to isolate their families, starve their chil...
Abdi Willy Adan said only some of the other suspects had refused food since Wednesday, while Mackenzie’s last hunger strike was recorded back in Febru...
The Senate Minority Leader ruled out a religious cult as the cause of these deaths, unlike the Shakahola case.
He emphasised that there had been a disconnect in collaboration among agencies, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), local admi...
In addition to the graves, investigators have so far retrieved 21 body parts scattered across the site since the exercise kicked off last week.
The witness revealed that she lost all seven of her children in Shakahola, where followers were forced to abandon schooling, medical care, and even ba...
After Shakahola, the then Interior Cabinet Secretary and now Deputy President, Prof Kithure Kindiki, assured the nation that never again would such a...
Detectives allege the suspects channelled funds into renting multiple houses in Malindi, which they used as holding spaces for victims before moving t...
Government Pathologist Dr Richard Njoroge appealed to families who have missing relatives to report to the Red Cross desk set up at Malindi District H...
The grim discovery brings the total number of graves identified in the area to 21, following weeks of reports about unexplained disappearances believe...
His followers were instructed to fast without food or water until death. The chilling plan, they testified, had an order: children first, then women,...
The case, initially handled at the Malindi High Court, was transferred to Mombasa following a directive by Chief Justice Martha Koome, citing the scal...
Uncovered two years ago, the Shakahola tragedy saw 453 bodies exhumed from shallow graves, yet despite collecting 333 DNA samples, only 66 victims hav...
State Counsel Alex Ndiema and Victor Simbi told the court that investigators had uncovered new leads which could result in the arrest of more suspects...
The senators expressed concern that since 2023, the continued storage of the bodies in two mobile mortuaries has stalled the hospital’s expansion plan...
A Malindi court has now granted the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) permission to exhume more suspected mass graves in Binzaro village.
Survivors rescued from the area were reportedly unable to account for the whereabouts of several children, prompting fears that more victims may be bu...
Key measures include the formation of a Religious Affairs Commission, leadership standards, reforms to religious broadcasting and civic education to c...
The court heard that within the secluded Shakahola forest, individuals were designated specific responsibilities, including village leadership, enforc...
Mackenzie, who is currently held at Shimo La Tewa Prison, expressed his frustration and shock through his lawyer Lawrence Obonyo, stating that he has...
Police also recovered two human skulls and the fresh body of an unidentified man in nearby bushes. The five-acre parcel, now designated a crime scene,...
Three of those rescued, all women, appeared frail and were immediately rushed to Malindi Sub-County Hospital for medical attention.
The deaths were received between July 9 and July 14, 2025, triggering immediate deployment of an investigative team to the area to assess the situatio...
