The manslaughter trial of Pastor Paul Mackenzie and 94 others took a poignant turn on Tuesday as the prosecution presented its 30th witness.
The trial, linked to the deaths of 429 people in the Shakahola forest massacre, is unfolding at Shanzu Law Courts, where 33-year-old Jimmy Mganga shared a heart-wrenching account of his family’s entanglement with Mackenzie’s Good News International Ministry.
Mganga testified that the last time he spoke with his father was shortly after Mackenzie’s arrest in April 2023, following the discovery of mass graves in Shakahola forest, a remote area near Malindi.
“I spoke to my father on Friday and asked him to leave Shakahola since their leader was arrested. He told me he would come back on Monday and then ended the call,” Mganga recounted.
That Monday call never came.
Mganga has not seen his father, mother, or three sisters since 2023, and despite providing a DNA sample to authorities, he has received no updates on their whereabouts.
Mganga’s testimony painted a disturbing picture of his family’s descent into the cult’s grip. He revealed that his father had built a branch of Mackenzie’s church at their home and stopped sending two of Mganga’s siblings to school, prompting Mganga to report the matter to the Ministry of Education.
His father was arrested and charged in Malindi Court, later released on a KSh10,000 bond paid by Mackenzie himself. The family turned against Mganga after the incident, accusing him of trying to imprison his father.
“I was not in a good relationship with my father after that,” Mganga told the court.
Mganga also shared that his father initially told the family he was going to Shakahola to buy land, only to return and take Mganga’s three sisters with him, leaving Mganga and his two brothers behind.
Mackenzie, a close friend of Mganga’s father, frequently visited their home and even presided over Mganga’s parents’ wedding in 2014, issuing them a marriage certificate.
However, Mganga distanced himself from the church in 2009 after Mackenzie began discouraging followers from attending school, calling it “ungodly.” Mganga’s siblings, then in Class 3 and Form 4, dropped out as a result.
“I didn’t agree with that,” he said firmly.
During three visits to Shakahola, Mganga noted there was no farming activity, despite his father’s claim of buying land. He later learned that Mackenzie had constructed dams in the area, though the purpose remains unclear.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has lined up 422 witnesses in the case, aiming to prove 238 counts of manslaughter with both testimonial and electronic evidence.
The trial has raised questions about how Mackenzie, a known extremist with prior legal issues, evaded law enforcement for so long.
He closed his church in 2019 and relocated to Shakahola, where he allegedly orchestrated the deadly fasting rituals that claimed hundreds of lives.
The Shakahola forest massacre, one of Kenya’s most shocking tragedies, came to light after police uncovered the remains of more than 440 people in mass graves.
Mackenzie, a former taxi driver turned self-styled pastor, and his 94 followers—55 men and 40 women—face charges of manslaughter, murder, child torture, and cruelty.
Court documents allege that Mackenzie, who founded the Good News International Ministry in 2003, instructed his followers to prepare for the “end of the world” through extreme fasting, leading to the deaths of entire families in the forest.
