Makenzi faces fresh manslaughter case for 28 people at Kwa Binzaro

Controversial preacher Paul Makenzi (left) and five others before Justice Wendy Micheni at the Mombasa High Court in Mombasa County. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Kwa Binzaro, the breakaway cell from Paul Makenzi’s twisted cult church at Shakahola forest in Kilifi county, had 28 bodies buried in shallow graves, according to police testimony.

The court in Mombasa heard that Kwa Binzaro was just four kilometres away from the Shakahola forest, where over 430 bodies were exhumed in what the prosecution established as enforced fasting.

The hearing of the Kwa Binzaro manslaughter case commenced on Tuesday before the Mombasa Law Courts, where Makenzi has been cited as the prime suspect linked to the latest massacre.

Makenzi has been charged alongside Shallyne Anindo Temba alias Ann, Kahindi Kazungu Garama alias Mlewa, Tom Ochieng Mkonwe alias Thomas alias Tomaso, Julius Tuva Luwali, Johnson Gona Richard, Charles Mutua Musee alias Mzee Mutua, and James Kazungu Kahindi alias Ponda alias Baba Bura.

They will also answer charges of crimes against humanity.

Makenzi and the co-accused face 23 counts of murder as a crime against humanity contrary to Section 6 (1) (b), as read with Sections 6 (3) (a) and 7 (1) (d) of the International Crimes Act, No. 16 of 2008, and Articles 7 (1) (a) and 25 (3) (a) and (b) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Makenzi is currently facing murder and manslaughter charges over 429 people who died at Shakahola.

He is also facing abduction and trafficking of children and radicalisation charges in separate courts.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) established that Makenzi planned the Kwa Binzaro massacre despite being in Shimo la Tewa maximum prison since his arrest in 2023.

Senior Sergeant Livingstone Lihanda, a crime scene officer,  told Senior Principal Magistrate Eric Wambo that 28 bodies were documented, with remains discovered in varying conditions.

During examination by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina and Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ngina Mutua, the officer said that some were whole bodies, while others were skeletal remains exhumed from shallow graves.

“In other cases, body parts were found scattered on the surface, with some bones piled over others. Some graves were one-foot-deep, and some contained more than one body,” said Lihanda.

He further explained that each recovery was carefully photographed and documented to preserve the integrity of the scene and support forensic examination.

The officer said that through a process of association, recovered body parts were analysed and linked to reconstruct individual bodies for purposes of identification in conjunction with exhumation and post-mortem examination processes.

Lihanda produced photographic images of bodies, exhumation, and autopsy processes recorded and documented throughout the operation.

According to a land surveyor, Michael Mwaria, there were several homesteads at the Kwa Binzaro within the site, including temporary structures.

Mwaria told the court that the scene of the crime in Kwa Binzaro was approximately four kilometres from the famous Shakahola forest.

According to the charges against Makenzi, it is alleged that on an unknown date between January and July 2025 at the Kwa Binzaro area in the Chakama location of Magarini Sub-County within Kilifi County, in pursuance of a suicide pact, he and five others murdered 28 known and unknown adults and children.

They are accused of carrying out an unlawful attack that resulted in the deaths of 23 members and followers of the Good News International Church, aged between six months and 18 years.

Presently, Makenzi and his 94 co-accused in the Shakahola case are waiting for a defence hearing after the prosecution finished calling the witnesses' examination in the murder and manslaughter hearing.

Similarly, the case against child abduction and trafficking is awaiting a defence hearing.

The hearing of Kwa Binzaro proceeds today with the state calling two protected witnesses.