Wamuzi News Ke
In a dramatic and unexpected turn in one of Kenya’s most harrowing criminal prosecutions, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has formally closed the first case against self-styled pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 96 other accused linked to the Shakahola forest atrocities, after prosecution witnesses detailed years of religious indoctrination, prompting a strategic realignment of legal strategy amid mounting evidentiary complexities.
The case closure comes as a shock to families of hundreds of victims and national observers, following testimony from scores of witnesses who spent weeks outlining a pattern of religious radicalization over more than a decade under Mackenzie’s leadership of the Good News International Ministries, a group accused of persuading followers into extreme fasting and isolation that led to mass deaths.
Prosecutors confirmed that they presented more than 75 key witnesses before the matter was abruptly concluded at the Mombasa High Court, citing overlapping evidence and the need to integrate detailed radicalization accounts into broader charges being pursued in linked proceedings. Legal circles indicate this shift reflects a prosecutorial strategy to consolidate stronger proof of criminal intent spanning years of cult influence, rather than a narrow focus on discrete deaths.
Mackenzie, along with his co-accused, is still in jail and charged separately with murder, manslaughter, child torture, and terrorism-related offenses, all in the concurrent litigation that has now moved through the courts in Mombasa and Shanzu.
These charges were laid following the discovery of numerous dead bodies in Shakahola forest, which in turn led to this case being referred to as the worst cult-related tragedy in Kenya over many years.
The victim’s families were very upset with the decision to close the case, and they believed that, as a result, it would take even longer for justice to be served and the trauma of the survivors to be increased. One of the deceased’s relatives said, “This is not closure”; rather, “This is another phase of uncertainty for those who lost children, parents, and siblings.”
Legal experts, for their part, point out that the dropping of one charge does not imply that the defendants are no longer considered guilty of the more serious aggregated counts that illustrate the whole range of the alleged wrongdoing.
The matter of the Shakahola forest was brought to the attention of the whole world when law enforcement officers dug up hundreds of corpses that had been buried in shallow graves, many of which were thought to have been starving and dying under the influence of the cult and its teachings.
In the meantime, autopsies and investigations have drawn attention to the difficulties that are part of the prosecution of a case that is complex and involves religious exploitation, mental coercion, and familial radicalization.
The DPP’s office has vowed to push remaining prosecutions through quickly and to include extensive radicalization testimony in future court submissions as part of a comprehensive plan to achieve convictions on multiple counts. A court mention has been arranged for the end of 2025, at which time the legal teams will probably set out the timetable for upcoming trial phases.
