shakahola massacre Stories

Mystery deepens as most Kwa Binzaro bodies show no clear cause of death
Lucy Mumbi  |  Oct 06, 2025

According to Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor, only two of the bodies examined so far have revealed a definite cause of death, while the rest wer...

Petition seeks legal framework to regulate theological colleges in Kenya
Lucy Mumbi  |  Oct 02, 2025

The petitioners want Parliament to set standards for curricula, accreditation and pastoral training, arguing that the absence of oversight has led to...

Shakahola massacre: Pathologist reveals victims were strangled, not just starved
Farhiya Hussein  |  Oct 02, 2025

Dr Richard Njoroge, one of five government pathologists who examined the remains, told the Shanzu Law Courts that several of the 453 bodies recovered...

Another pastor arrested in Kilifi as authorities crack down on rogue preachers
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 30, 2025

According to Kiinge, security agencies have intensified intelligence operations at the grassroots level, including scrutiny of religious leaders’ qual...

Shakahola cult: How Mackenzie forged documents to register Good News Church
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 30, 2025

The prosecution presented five witnesses before the Shanzu Law Courts in the ongoing trial involving Mackenzie and 95 co-accused persons, who face cha...

Kilifi closes 11 churches over radicalisation, lack of registration
Lucy Mumbi  |  Sep 22, 2025

The crackdown follows the deaths of more than 484 people linked to cult-related activities in Malindi, including over 450 followers of the Good News I...

Rescue of starving boy sheds light on Shakahola forest tragedy
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 18, 2025

Khadijah Wilson recounted how she and her younger brother found the boy, identified in court only as P.P., lying weak outside their shop in the Maduka...

Shakahola trial hears more harrowing testimonies of starvation and abuse
Lucy Mumbi  |  Sep 16, 2025

Government Pathologist Richard Njoroge, who performed post-mortems on four bodies recovered from mass graves in Shakahola, described the grim state of...

Families ravaged by tragedy as Kwa Binzaro mass graves reveal grim truth
Maureen Kinyanjui  |  Sep 13, 2025

The Kwa Binzaro tragedy, much like Shakahola before it, has left families shattered,  parents mourning children, and children left without parents. Fo...

Three Kwa Binzaro cult suspects granted bond pending investigation
Maureen Kinyanjui  |  Sep 13, 2025

The trio had been arrested for allegedly selling a five-acre piece of land to the main suspect, Sherleen Temba Anido.

Grieving father testifies on losing 12 family members in Shakahola massacre
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 04, 2025

Titus Ngonyo Gandi narrated how his wife, Esther Birya Masha, drew their two sons, Harry and Isaack Ngala, into Mackenzie’s cult.

Children’s Officer recounts how minors were rescued from Paul Mackenzie’s followers
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 04, 2025

Omar Mohamed, appearing as the 58th prosecution witness, recounted how the minors were discovered during investigations into the conduct of followers...

IG Douglas Kanja faces grim reality of Kwa Binzaro exhumations
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 04, 2025

The air was heavy with the smell of decay, yellow tape hung loosely from tree trunks marking exhumation sites, and exhausted officers trudged through...

11 suspects arrested in Kwa Binzaro cult probe, Police IG Kanja says many victims are non-locals
Lucy Mumbi  |  Sep 03, 2025

Police IG Kanja revealed that the majority of the victims are believed to be non-locals.

Murkomen warns Kenyans against silence on cults as new mass graves found in Kilifi
Lucy Mumbi  |  Sep 03, 2025

The CS expressed concern over the rising number of cult-related deaths, lamenting what he described as the collapse of community vigilance and respons...

Grief-stricken families relive pain as court hears Shakahola child torture case
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 03, 2025

The prosecution argued that such testimonies illustrate how Mackenzie’s radical sermons compelled parents to isolate their families, starve their chil...

Prison boss dismisses Paul Mackenzie's alleged poisoning plot at Shimo la Tewa
Farhiya Hussein  |  Sep 03, 2025

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...

Senator Madzayo demands urgent probe into bodies found in Kwa Binzaro forest
Maureen Kinyanjui  |  Aug 30, 2025

The Senate Minority Leader ruled out a religious cult as the cause of these deaths, unlike the Shakahola case.

Police admit Shakahola lessons not fully applied after Kwa Binzaro cult deaths
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 29, 2025

He emphasised that there had been a disconnect in collaboration among agencies, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), local admi...

Death toll rises to 25 as six more bodies exhumed in Binzaro Village cult probe
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 27, 2025

In addition to the graves, investigators have so far retrieved 21 body parts scattered across the site since the exercise kicked off last week.

Witness reveals how Mackenzie’s Shakahola church starved dozens, killing children and families
Rachael Mutabasi  |  Aug 27, 2025

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...

Kwa Binzaro cult tragedy lays bare State’s broken promises after Shakahola
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 27, 2025

After Shakahola, the then Interior Cabinet Secretary and now Deputy President, Prof Kithure Kindiki, assured the nation that never again would such a...

Kwa Binzaro cult probe shifts to suspects’ phones and bank records
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 26, 2025

Detectives allege the suspects channelled funds into renting multiple houses in Malindi, which they used as holding spaces for victims before moving t...

Five bodies exhumed in Kwa Binzaro as mass graves probe intensifies in Kilifi
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 21, 2025

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...

13 more graves found in Kwa Binzaro as death toll rises amid cult fears
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 15, 2025

The grim discovery brings the total number of graves identified in the area to 21, following weeks of reports about unexplained disappearances believe...

Shakahola survivors detail horrors of starvation, brutality in court
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 15, 2025

His followers were instructed to fast without food or water until death. The chilling plan, they testified, had an order: children first, then women,...

Shakahola Massacre trial opens in Mombasa amid harrowing details of alleged child murders
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 14, 2025

The case, initially handled at the Malindi High Court, was transferred to Mombasa following a directive by Chief Justice Martha Koome, citing the scal...

DNA backlog leaves 300 Shakahola victims unburied two years after massacre
Lucy Mumbi  |  Aug 13, 2025

Uncovered two years ago, the Shakahola tragedy saw 453 bodies exhumed from shallow graves, yet despite collecting 333 DNA samples, only 66 victims hav...

Shakahola murder trial adjourned as prosecution cites new evidence
Farhiya Hussein  |  Aug 12, 2025

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...

Pressure mounts on government to dispose of Shakahola massacre victims' bodies after year-long delay
Lucy Mumbi  |  Aug 03, 2025

The senators expressed concern that since 2023, the continued storage of the bodies in two mobile mortuaries has stalled the hospital’s expansion plan...

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