Shakahola Horrors: Woman Recounts How Pastor Mackenzie Forced Her to Starve – Killing Unborn Child While Watching Her Six Children Die One by One

In a packed Mombasa courtroom, a mother’s anguished voice broke the silence, recounting a nightmare that claimed her seven children in the desolate expanse of Shakahola.

Beatrice (name changed for her protection), the 29th witness in the ongoing manslaughter trial against Pastor Paul Mackenzie and 94 others, laid bare the chilling consequences of a religious edict that turned faith into a death sentence.

Beatrice’s testimony, delivered in camera to shield her identity, painted a haunting picture of life under Mackenzie’s sway.

She told the court how she joined his Good News International Church in 2017, captivated by his fiery sermons on Times TV.

What began as a search for salvation spiraled into a tragedy that would rob her of everything she held dear.

“Pastor Mackenzie said education was evil, hospitals were forbidden, and fasting would bring us closer to Jesus,” Beatrice said, her voice trembling.

Under his guidance, she and her husband withdrew their children from school, shunned medical care, and abandoned government programs.

By 2019, when Mackenzie shuttered his church and TV channel, he summoned his followers to Shakahola—a remote “Holy Land” where salvation awaited.

Beatrice’s family paid Ksh. 2,000 for two acres, uprooted their lives, and joined the exodus.

But Shakahola was no paradise. In a fateful meeting, Mackenzie ordered a fast—children first, then women, then men.

“He said it was God’s will,” Beatrice recalled. Her husband, once skeptical but now a believer, locked their six children in a room without food or water.

Security men stripped their home of provisions, enforcing the pastor’s decree.

One by one, her children weakened, their cries fading into silence as starvation took them.

Pregnant at the time, Beatrice faced an unimaginable horror. “They told me to fast to kill the unborn,” she testified.

After two days without sustenance, she gave birth, too frail to breastfeed.

Her newborn, her seventh child, slipped away in her arms. “We weren’t allowed to mourn,” she said, tears streaking her face. “I saw other children die, too—buried in shallow graves like they never mattered.”

The courtroom sat in stunned silence as Beatrice described her escape, fleeing under the pretense of fetching food and reaching a children’s home in Watamu.

Her story echoed that of JNK, a minor and the 28th witness, who told of being locked in a room with his siblings before cycling to safety.

Together, their testimonies expose the devastating reach of Mackenzie’s influence, now at the heart of a case led by Assistant DPP Jami Yamina, Principal Prosecution Counsels Victor Owiti and Betty Rubia, and Alex Ndiema.

Beatrice’s journey began with hope. She attended Mackenzie’s seminars in Malindi, Mtwapa, Rabai, and Tononoka, drawn by promises of divine favor.

After the church closed, a WhatsApp group became his lifeline to followers, issuing directives that led them to Shakahola.

There, farming gave way to fasting, and community crumbled under coercion.

The Shakahola massacre has claimed over 429 lives, with more than a third being children, their bodies unearthed from mass graves since 2023.

Survivors like Beatrice, some facing charges themselves, bear the scars of a cult that promised eternity but delivered death.

“I lost everything,” she whispered in court, her words a plea for justice and a warning to others.