Grieving Father Tells Court How He Lost His Wife and Four Children in Shakahola Tragedy

A grieving father testified in the murder trial of Pastor Paul Mackenzie and 30 others at the Mombasa High Court, giving a heartbreaking account that revealed the deep human suffering caused by the Shakahola tragedy.

George Okaka, the fifth witness in the case, took the stand on Monday, December 1, and relived the pain of losing nearly his entire family toMackenzie’s Good News International Ministries.

He told the court how in October 2025, he buried his wife and four children, victims of a journey he said began with religious devotion but ended in silence, starvation, and death. Two of his children are still missing.

Okaka recounted how his wife’s behaviour changed drastically in the months before she left home in September 2022.

She burned their children’s books and identification documents before travelling with them to Shakahola forest, where Mackenzie’s followers believed starvation would lead them to heaven.

He said the last time he heard his wife's voice was in early 2023, when he received a phone call from his wife requesting KSh 6,000. Desperate to help,he raised the money with the assistance of his father-in-law, who sold a cow.

The testimony also included a senior scene of crime investigating officer, Benson Ingosi, who testified that four of the fifteen victims rescued from the forest lost their lives while being transported to the hospital for treatment.

He also shared details of his involvement in the investigation.

“In the course of our search, we found several victims inside fasting bays, which were enclosed with thorny branches,” he noted.

Ingosi also detailed the discovery of decomposing bodies in various sections of Shakahola in April 2025, when he was called to a section of the forest near Langobaya.

The court later heard a testimony from child psychologist Dr. Florence Mueni, who presented assessments compiled by a team of six experts after interviewing 26 rescued children.

So far, the prosecution has presented 70 witnesses in the case involving the deaths of 191 people, all allegedly linked to Mackenzie’s religious teachings.