A witness in the ongoing Shakahola massacre case was on Tuesday shocked to see his wife whom he thought was dead in court during his testimony against Preacher Paul Mackenzie and others for the deaths of the 238 victims.
Stephen Mwiti who lost six children in Shakahola saw his wife who is charged alongside Mackenzie in court and according to him he thought she died alongside their children but was among tens of accused persons in the case.
Mwiti told court that the information he received was that she was among the over 200 people who perished at Shakahola.
The bereaved father said he hold no grudge against her but leaves her in the hands of God saying he totally blames Mackenzie for the deaths of his late children.
Mwiti told Mombasa Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku that he had never seen his wife and children since August 2022 when his wife went to Shakahola with the kids and was even able to identify her among the other accused persons.
Even though he has never recovered the bodies of his children he believes they died because he has been told that three died and the others were also fasting and not in good condition at the time.
He told the court that despite his DNA samples having been taken, he has not received any information on his children and he has not received any body to bury yet.
The father told court that all was well until his wife decided to join Mackenzie’s church and immediately removed their kids from school as she believed it was a sin.
He said he confronted his wife on different occasions after she claimed that she was not taking his children to school and she even stopped watching news and always watched Mackenzie’s summons which Mwiti told the court that he did not like.
“I decided to one-day listen to the summons and heard Makenzi claiming that education was evil and that no one should visit the hospital. I did not like the summons and asked my wife why she was so keen on those teachings and she told me that God will intervene,” the court heard.
His wife who was heavily pregnant ran away to the church in August 2022 with their five children and that’s the last time he saw his family.
He told court that on that day, he left his pregnant wife, his five children at home and went to hustle just like any other head of the family, only to go back home that evening and find out that his wife and children had already left with their clothes apart from his children’s school clothes.
After a few months, Mwiti told the court that his wife called him requesting for some money and so that he could know where she was, he told her he could only send her a parcel and asked her where the parcel should be dropped.
“She was hesitant to inform me where the parcel should be dropped but later told me it should be dropped at a Junction at Shakahola and that evening, I called her to confirm if she had received the parcel. I knew she had received it after she mentioned the things I had packed and I believed she was indeed at Shakahola,” Mwiti said
He told the court that the conductor who was with the matatu that was heading there confirmed to him that evening that some people had indeed picked the parcel and vanished to the forest where they had known that Mackenzie’s people were.
He told the court that Mackenzie had indeed destroyed his family emotionally pondering how at his age he has no child yet he had children before who were snatched away from him by a church leader’s actions and beliefs.
He said to him he believed that the church is supposed to guide and not mislead and now he knows that evil people were in the churches.
