The Shanzu court has resumed the hearing of the Shakahola massacre case, where prime suspect pastor Paul Mackenzie and others face terrorism-related charges.
The sixth prosecution witness, a homicide detective, is set to continue his testimony before Senior Principal Magistrate Leah Juma.
Earlier in the proceedings, Police Constable Bernard Jefwa provided details about the discovery of the Shakahola victims. He recounted how he found the victims bound with ropes and wrapped in blankets and white sheets.
Jefwa explained that he exhumed the 429 bodies one at a time from the extensive forest and then transferred them to the morgue.
“I extracted the bodies from the soil after the grave diggers had reached the burial site. I marked each body, assigned field names, sealed the body bags, and removed them from the graves,” Jefwa testified.
Investigation into Death of Two Minors
He detailed that his supervisor, Martin Nyunguto, instructed him on April 17, 2023, to travel to Kilifi County to take over investigations into the deaths of two minors buried under unclear circumstances. Jefwa traveled to Malindi the following day.
On April 19, he and a team, including the homicide director, forensic experts, crime scene investigators, pathologists, government chemist personnel, and public health officers, entered Shakahola Forest.
“Upon arriving at Shakahola Forest, my colleagues and I found individuals sleeping under sheds and appearing weak. We conducted searches, rescues, and grave identifications. Some victims looked ill and requested water,” he said.
Jefwa noted that they were shown the grave where the two minors were allegedly buried. He added that some rescued victims were later taken to Malindi Sub County Referral Hospital.
“While identifying whether there were more victims, we discovered that the area was vast and contained many suspicious graves besides the one we initially came to exhume,” he explained.
The focus of the operation shifted to a rescue mission and mass grave identification, with an escapee guiding the team to various grave sites.
“A few days later, a male individual who joined our investigation team directed us to where the victims were buried, and we successfully conducted the exhumation and placed the bodies in body bags,” he said.
