Shakahola victims were not poisoned, government chemist tells court

David Ngumbao, a government analyst, testifies before Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku at the Mombasa Law Courts on  July 31, 2025, during the hearing of the case where Paul Makenzi and 92 others are charged with 238 counts of manslaughter. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

A government analyst, on Thursday, told the court that samples taken from bodies exhumed from Shakahola forest did not have traces of poison or toxic substances.

However, the government analyst, David Ngumbao, declined to state whether the bodies were transported from elsewhere to be dumped or buried inside the Shakahola forest in Malindi, Kilifi County.