Man, Wife and Three Children Found Buried Side by Side in Shakahola

Saturday, April 22, 2023

Detectives are pictured next to bodies dug out of mass graves in Shakahola village, Kilifi County, on a piece of land owned by cult leader Paul Mackenzie, on April 22, 2023.

Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group

By Farhiya Hussein

What you need to know:

The bodies were still freshly wrapped in one bed sheet and lying side by side in yet another horrific scene at the church land linked to cult leader Paul Mackenzie.

The cult’s story broke when a murder incident report filed at Langobaya Police Station under OB Number 12/17/3/2023 linked the deaths of two children to the pastor.

Detectives exhuming bodies in the suspected mass burial sites in Shakahola village in Kilifi county on Saturday encountered bodies of five people believed to be from the same family.

The bodies were still freshly wrapped in one bed sheet and lying side by side in yet another horrific scene at the church land linked to cult leader Paul Mackenzie.

Mackenzie’s troubles with the authorities and local leaders seem to have begun in 2018.

At that time, Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa, now Public Service Cabinet Secretary, had protested against Mackenzie and his church’s actions, saying the cult leader was giving bribes to security agencies to prevent the closure of the church and his prosecution after allegedly being arrested thrice and then released.

This perhaps explains how the pastor continued with his plan undetected for so long.

A bullish Mackenzie was quoted by Citizen TV during that time saying, “If anyone feels offended about my summons and teachings in accordance to the scripture, let them go to court and produce evidence. I am not afraid to serve my God.”

In September 2017, police officers raided the Good News International church and rescued about 93 children.

Pastor Mackenzie and some church members were also arrested.

The preacher was later taken to court and charged with promoting radicalisation and teaching children in an unregistered school at his church.

He denied the charges and was released on a Sh500,000 bond with surety.

During investigations, some of the children interrogated claimed that education is satanic and said they had left their homes and schools to follow the pastor.

The pastor’s followers, who include primary, secondary school and university students, defended their decision to drop out of school, quoting Bible verses.

In October 2018, angry residents at Bungale in Magarini, Kilifi County demolished one of Pastor Makenzie’s churches on claims of indoctrinating locals with false Christian teachings, Citizen TV reported.

As at 4.30pm on Saturday, 14 bodies had been exhumed from seven gravesites, bringing the number to 21 bodies which have been so far dug up over the past two days in the area. More bodies are suspected to have been buried in shallow graves.

And here, in the remote, almost inaccessible village in Kilifi, the true extent of the horror of the works of cult leader Paul Mackenzie who asked his followers to starve themselves to death continued to manifest Saturday, with fears of the numbers rising even higher given the number of bodies found in one grave.

With 11 grave sites having been dup as at yesterday and with 21 bodies recovered, fears are rife that the cult leader’s teachings could have led to the death of over 100 people.

In the grave in which five family members had been buried, police and locals found a man on the right side of the grave, a woman suspected to be his wife at the far left with three children, and in between the parents.

The bodies were placed in a shallow grave of about three feet, and had a stench, a sign they were buried a few weeks ago.

Police also went on a search for more people suspected to be still hiding and starving themselves in the larger forest owned by the leader of Kilifi Cult Pastor Paul Mackenzie of the Good News International Church.

In an exercise which is being conducted by few detectives who are being supported by locals, two graves dug yesterday had three bodies while two other graves had a body each.

In the last gravesite dug Saturday afternoon before the team broke for refreshments at 4.30pm, four bodies were discovered in three graves. One site had two bodies while other two had a body each.

The exhumation exercises on Friday and Saturday happened within the compound of one homestead.

But as more bodies are being exhumed, the team on the ground has complained over lack of adequate manpower to conduct the exercise.

According to detectives who did not want to be named, the team had to seek support from locals to dig up the graves due to lack of manpower.

“We are not doing any forensic sampling on the ground since we have few staff. The rain has also affected the process of exhuming the bodies,” said one police officer at the scene.

Earlier in the day, Sunday Nation learnt that the leader of the Kilifi cult, Mr Mackenzie, has staged a hunger strike four days since homicide detectives launched gravesites operation at Shakahola village.

According to police sources, Pastor Mackenzie has refused to even take a glass of water on claims he is in ‘prayer mode.’

“He has not taken even a glass of water. But that won’t stop us from our exercise,” said a police source.

The Malindi preacher who has been in the limelight for allegedly influencing his followers to fast to death has been in police custody to allow for completion of investigations.

Mackenzie appeared before Malindi Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Usui on Monday this week but was not required to plead to any charge, with the prosecution seeking 30 more days to hold him.

Mackenzie will be held in custody for 14 days alongside six of his followers while another seven, who the prosecution described as victims since they had refused to eat even while in police custody, will be held for seven days for counselling. The case will be mentioned on May 2.

The State accuses Mackenzie of manipulating locals through skewed radical religious teachings, and fear of the unknown in pursuit of salvation, leading to the deaths of many.

According to investigations, Mackenzie has been shaping the beliefs of his followers, some of who are now being investigated for alleged horrific crimes — including starving and killing their children and later burying them in shallow graves.

The consequences of these beliefs are said to have been deadly, and some who followed his teachings have died.

The cult’s story broke when a murder incident report filed at Langobaya Police Station under OB Number 12/17/3/2023 linked the deaths of two children to the pastor.

Court documents say the two, on advice from Mr Mackenzie, had starved and suffocated the children, Seth Hinzano and Evabra Dito.

They are suspected of burying the two minors on March 16 and 17 in a shallow grave at Shakahola. However, during an interview with Sunday Nation, Mr Mackenzie distanced himself from the accusations, noting he stopped preaching in 2019 and is currently farming in Shakahola village, where he bought land and occasionally visits.