MOMBASA, Kenya – A police officer has told a Mombasa court that controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie secretly ate while in police custody as his followers continued fasting, believing starvation would help them evade criminal charges.
Testifying before Principal Magistrate Leah Juma, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Noor Abdi, who formerly commanded Malindi Police Station, said the preacher and several of his co-accused were held at the station between June 6 and June 14, 2023.
During this period, 15 suspects reportedly refused to eat for eight consecutive days, insisting they were fasting for “divine intervention” in their legal troubles.
“Your honour, we separated Mackenzie from the rest of the suspects, and our informer reported that he ate secretly in the cell so that his followers would not notice,” Abdi told the court.
The officer added that the detainees became extremely weak during the hunger strike and rejected medical treatment when taken to hospital, saying their fast was a spiritual act.
Abdi also produced police communication logs sent to senior commanders reporting the mass refusal of food among Mackenzie’s detained followers.
The testimony adds another layer to the disturbing details emerging from the ongoing Shakahola cult trial, in which Mackenzie and 92 others face multiple charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
Dam Project Was Not for Irrigation
The prosecution also presented new witnesses, including Alex Tsofia, an excavator operator who said Mackenzie hired him to construct a dam in Shakahola, Kilifi County, where the alleged cult operated.
Engineer Fredrick Ako from the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority told the court the structure was not an irrigation dam, as initially claimed, but a water harvesting pan with a storage capacity of 18,851.6 cubic metres—enough to supply about 218 households, or roughly 1,090 people, for a year.
Ako’s assessment was later confirmed by the authority, which found no evidence of irrigation or livestock use at the site, concluding it served only as a rainwater catchment project.
The report further estimated that the pan could sustain up to 16,498 people for three months, depending on rainfall and consumption levels.
Pastor Mackenzie ate in secret while followers starved, court toldA police witness has told the court that controversial preacher pastor Paul Mackenzie secretly ate in police custody while his followers continued fasting, believing it would help them evade criminal charges.
Victim’s Husband Recounts Heartbreak
The court also heard emotional testimony from Stephen Mwiti, whose wife and six children joined Mackenzie’s Good News International Church and later went missing.
Mwiti said his wife became increasingly obsessed with Mackenzie’s sermons, causing deep tension in their marriage.
“I sometimes walked around with the TV remote in my pocket to stop her from watching Mackenzie’s preaching, but it didn’t help,” he told the court.
He recounted that his wife eventually left home while pregnant with their sixth child to join the Shakahola community.
“When I heard people had been rescued from Shakahola, I prayed to reunite with my family. But I was devastated when I learned my wife and all six children, including a one-month-old baby, had disappeared,” Mwiti said tearfully.
A DNA test later confirmed that one of the rescued children was his. Asked by Mackenzie’s lawyer whether he was willing to reconcile with his wife, Mwiti said he had left the matter to the court and only sought justice.
Mackenzie and his co-accused are accused of masterminding one of Kenya’s deadliest cult tragedies, in which hundreds of followers of the Good News International Church are believed to have died in the Shakahola forest through forced fasting and indoctrination.
The case, being heard at the Shanzu Law Courts, has drawn nationwide attention for its chilling accounts of manipulation, starvation, and mass death.
