Four prime suspects under investigation for the Kwa Bi Nzaro cult deaths have been detained for another 60 days as the probe into the massacre intensifies.
Malindi Principal Magistrate Joy Wesonga ruled that the prosecution had demonstrated and justified the need for the extended detention.
“The prosecution’s application is allowed. Periodical reports on the progress of investigations shall be filed every three weeks,” said the magistrate.
Detectives plan to use the time to sort through the 102 commingled remains already recovered, alongside any new discoveries, and conduct post-mortem examinations on the 34 bodies so far exhumed. They will also continue locating and exhuming graves within the 400-acre forest, in addition to collecting body parts scattered across the area.
It has since emerged that while members of the cult lived within a five-acre homestead, bodies were ferried and buried across a much wider 400-acre circumference deep in the forest, prolonging the search and recovery process.
“DNA analysis will take far longer than the 60 days sought, due to challenges such as the availability of relatives and sufficiency of samples,” Inspector Oliver Nabonwe said in his affidavit.
The state intends to establish the identities of the deceased before any charges are brought and formally filed.
The court was further told that nearly all the bodies were buried bare and in shallow graves less than a foot deep, leaving them exposed to weather and wild animals. This severely degraded the quality of DNA material available for profiling, thereby extending the identification process.
The four suspects are self-styled priestess Sharleen Temba Anido, Kahindi Kazungu Garama, Thomas Mukonwe, and James Kazungu. They have already been in custody for 51 days and are currently held at Ngerenya, Kilifi, Watamu, and Kijipwa police stations respectively.
The four are said to have played key roles in reviving radical teachings after fleeing Shakahola, where at least 454 followers of the controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie died from forced starvation. They have been described as a danger to themselves.
The suspects are alleged to have radicalised followers and orchestrated mass deaths, which they referred to as a “holy safari to see Jesus”. The four were isolated from an initial group of eleven suspects arrested in connection with the Kwa Bi Nzaro deaths, which mirror the 2023 Shakahola massacre.
Anido, Garama, Mukonwe and Kazungu are all believed to have lived in Shakahola forest with their families before escaping.
Mukonwe’s wife and three children are missing and presumed dead. Kazungu’s wife, Dhahabu Kabwere Chea, is facing 238 manslaughter charges alongside Mackenzie in Mombasa, while their five children are also missing. Anido’s husband is likewise suspected to have died following extreme fasting rituals.
Three others – Safari Kenga, Gona Charo, and Gona Fondo – have since been freed, while four others were placed under the witness protection programme.
The seven are expected to help investigators establish the sequence of events, the perpetrators, and the timeline under which the new cult regrouped and committed the crimes. So far, 34 bodies and 102 separate body parts have been exhumed from Kwa Bi Nzaro forest, located less than 30 kilometres from Shakahola where more than 454 bodies were recovered in 2023.
Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina told the court that the recovery of 102 commingled remains confirmed that many victims had been abandoned in thorny thickets to be eaten by animals.
So far, detectives have identified several grave sites awaiting exhumation, obtained DNA samples from families of the missing, interrogated the suspects, and recorded more than 50 witness statements. Investigations indicate that extreme religious indoctrination lay at the heart of the deaths and unregistered burials in Kwa Bi Nzaro.
The suspects are being investigated for radicalisation under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, facilitation of terrorism, organised criminal activity under the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act, and murder under the Penal Code.
