Probe launched as one suspect in Shakahola massacre dies in remand

An inquest has been opened to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of a Shakahola suspect who is jointly charged with Kilifi cult-like killings of 429 members of the Good News International Church (GNIC).

On Monday, the Mombasa Court was informed that Ms Mary Charo Mbita passed away while in prison custody under unclear circumstances.

“We would like to inform this court that Ms  Mbita is deceased. We will provide the court with details regarding her death. We request that her trial be marked as abated,” said Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina.

Mr Yamina informed Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku that there is an ongoing inquest into the woman’s death since she died while in the prison’s custody.

57th accused person

Ms Mbita was the fifty-seventh accused person in the charge sheet that has 95 suspects. She was charged together with 94 people for unlawfully killing 238 people inside the Shakahola forest within Langobaya in Malindi sub-County.

This comes even as the prosecution laid out reasons why the church leader Paul Mackenzie and his group were charged with 238 counts of manslaughter after the discovery of at least 429 bodies that had been buried in shallow graves.

In the opening remarks on Monday before the case could start in camera, Mombasa Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Peter Kiprop told the court that in the exercise of the religious beliefs and practices, Mackenzie and his group collectively agreed to engage in starvation, among other extreme practices, leading to the loss of the over 429 lives, in a manner that depicted direct and indirect suicide pacts between them aimed at such loss of lives.

The prosecution said that under the stewardship of Mackenzie, the accused persons relied on false religious teachings and based on the unwritten common agreement - the suicide pact - between themselves and the deceased victims, and others, to have everyone in the church die from starvation starting with the children.

“Their sole objective was the death of all of them, and their acts of starvation were done with the settled intention of dying in pursuance of the pact,” said Mr Kiprop.

The prosecutor said the State shall lead evidence showing how, in pursuit of the suicide pact, the accused persons had planned to have everyone in the church die from starvation starting from the children, to their mothers, and finally their fathers, in a false belief of religious victory thereafter.

“As a result, 238 adults and over 191 innocent children, whose innocence had been taken advantage of, had been confirmed dead from the extreme religious beliefs of the accused persons at the time of drafting the instant charges,” said the prosecution.

The state told the court that the 429 victims of the pact with the accused persons, led by Mackenzie are not just numbers.

“The case before you, your honour, is not just for a trial, but for a reckoning. The case is not about a single crime, but a web of atrocities woven by the accused persons, Mackenzie in particular. This case is about the exploitation of faith, the erosion of humanity, and the chilling cost of blind devotion,” said Mr Kiprop.

To prove its case against Mackenzie and his group, the state has lined up a total of about 90 witnesses, children and adults, some of whom are protected.

Direct and circumstantial evidence

According to the prosecution, the evidence to be tabled in this case shall be both direct and circumstantial, with a number of the witnesses giving a first-hand account of the events that took place within the Shakahola forest between  2020 and 2023.

“The prosecution is certain that at the close of its case, this court shall have a clear view of the existence of the suicide pact, and the religious pursuance thereof, and leading to the culpability of each of the accused persons as charged,” said Mr Kiprop.

In addition, the team of prosecutors led by Mr Jami, Victor Owiti, Alex Gituma, Victor Simbi, Mary Rubia and Hillary Isiaho pleaded with the court to find that based on the entirety of  the evidence presented, each of the accused persons had arrived at the common intention to die, leading to the death of each of the victims

However, Mackenzie, through his advocate Lawrence Obonyo, told the court that the case before it was purely about issues of faith, based on the Holy Bible.

“The issues that the court should keep in mind are those of faith and freedom of religion and assembly, even as it listens to the witnesses,” said the advocate.

The advocate also reminded the court that currently, there is no legal instrument regulating how faith is practiced in Kenya, terming the prosecution’s case as far-fetched.

“There was no suicide or death attributable to the freedom of faith and assembly that the accused persons were exercising. The issues regarding manslaughter are simply far-fetched,” he said.

 Mackenzie and his accomplices are facing 238 manslaughter charges.

The suspects have been charged that in pursuance of a suicide pact for the object of their death and others not before the court, they jointly killed 238 people.

They are alleged to have committed the offenses on unknown dates between January 2021 and September 2023 in the Shakahola area in Malindi Sub-County within Kilifi County. 

The suspects have all pleaded not guilty to all the 238 counts of manslaughter.

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