Inside the horror: High Court visits sites linked to Shakahola massacre

Shakahola massacre survivors seated at one of the fasting and praying bays in Shakahola Forest, Kilifi County. [Marion Kithi, Standard]

For the first time since the massacre of more than 500 people in Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County, the High Court in Malindi visited the horrifying crime scenes and houses of the alleged perpetrators.

Justice Wendy Kagendo said the visits will give the court a better understanding of the physical horror victims encountered in Shakahola and Kwa Bi Nzaro in 2023 and 2025, respectively.

In Shakahola, more than 500 members of a cult linked to the controversial pastor of the defunct Good News International (GNI) church, Paul Makenzi, starved to death, while 52 bodies and more than 102 human remains were collected from Kwa Bi Nzaro.

The prosecution says the victims were subjected to extreme religious indoctrination that led to their deaths.

Justice Kagendo said the court visited the scenes of crime to help clarify evidence that may be difficult to understand from photographs, videos and maps presented in court as well as witness testimonies.

On Tuesday, the court visited houses in Furunzi, Malindi town, allegedly used as radicalisation cells for the victims before they were transported to Kwa Bi Nzaro dying bays.

They also visited the defunct GNI church in the Furunzi area, which allegedly spread radicalisation teachings under Makenzi.

On Wednesday, they are expected to visit Kwa Bi Nzaro - the Sharlene Temba Anindo five-acre homestead, which is believed to be the epicentre of the second massacre. They will also visit the nearest and farthest graves, as well as visit the Mudzomba homestead.

On Thursday, the team will finalise their field exercise by visiting Shakahola kwa Makenzi’s homestead, Julius Thuva Luwali and Johnson Gona Richard's houses, which the prosecution says were fasting and praying bays.

The area has temporary housing structures that served as holding bays, Mitola trees, selected grave sites, the Shakahola command centre and a police station.

During exhumation, bodies were buried in shallow mass graves wrapped in clothing sheets tied at the neck and ankle.

Detectives discovered the graves through intelligence-based disturbed soil, soil compaction, cracked lines and collapsed soil and a mixture of top and underneath soil.

All eight suspects in the Kwa Bi Nzaro trial, including Makenzi and Anindo, are accompanying the judicial officers to the alleged radicalisation cells and the forest.

Six accused persons face charges linked to the deaths of followers whom prosecutors say were convinced that starvation was a path to salvation. The accused persons, including Makenzi, Anindo, Kahindi Kazungu Garama, Tom Ochieng Mkonwe, Thuva and Gona, have denied the charges.

Others are Charles Mutua Musee and James Kazungu Kahindi, facing separate charges of assisting some of the accused persons in evading arrest. They have also denied wrongdoing.

Prosecutors have presented evidence linking Shakahola, where 500 bodies were recovered in 2023, with Kwa Bi Nzaro, where more than 50 deaths were reported in 2025.

The court will also assess the proximity of the two forest areas and consider testimony from witnesses who say some survivors of the Shakahola tragedy later ended up at Kwa Bi Nzaro.

It will further seek to determine whether there was continuity between the two incidents despite heightened security attention following the Shakahola discoveries.

On Friday, the team will meet the families of the victims.

The judicial team is accompanied by officers from the DCI homicide, forensic and crime scene investigators, Kenya Survey, Chakama Ranch officials and the local administration.