Mary Kadzo Kahindi cuts the image of a calm, composed woman. Throughout the trial over the murder of 191 people, including 190 children, in Shakahola Forest, she maintained a quiet demeanour, often wearing a smile even as disturbing details of the killings emerged in court.
Her outward composure, however, concealed a much more commanding role in the forest.
Behind her gentle appearance was a woman entrusted with enforcing some of the most brutal rules imposed on followers of cult leader Paul Mackenzie, including denying food and water to vulnerable women.
On Friday, she sat directly behind Mackenzie and her husband, Smart Deri Mwakalama, the preacher's deputy and logistics chief.
From time to time, the three leaned towards one another, exchanging whispers. Their faces remained serious as they awaited the sentences that would determine their fate.
Moments before the sentences were delivered, Mackenzie was overheard encouraging his co-convicts, telling them that their ordeal would soon be over.
“It shall be well, all this shall pass,” he told his followers shortly before Justice Diana Kavedza walked into the courtroom carrying two large bundles of documents containing the sentences that would seal their fate.
But Ms Kahindi was no ordinary worshipper who had simply followed her husband into Mackenzie's religious movement.
To an observer seeing her in court, she could easily pass for a quiet woman caught up in the extremist beliefs of her husband. Yet her position in the hierarchy of Good News International Ministries tells a different story.
In Shakahola Forest, she was among the trusted individuals given responsibility for enforcing Mackenzie's instructions among his followers.
She was not simply expected to observe the rules herself; she was entrusted with ensuring that others, particularly women, obeyed them.
Kahindi was the overseer and fasting enforcement officer in Tiro, one of the 12 villages Mackenzie established in the forest to organise his followers and maintain control over the settlement.
Mary Kadzo Kahindi, alias Mary Smart, and 94 other Suspects charged before the Mombasa Law Courts with Manslaughter in this photo taken on January 23, 2024.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation
As the only woman identified among the cult's enforcers, she occupied a distinctive position in a system largely run by men.
She supervised the women's section, monitored compliance with the fasting rules and counselled followers who might have wavered in their commitment to Mackenzie's teachings.
Her responsibilities extended to women in particularly vulnerable circumstances. The court heard how she denied food and water to breastfeeding mothers, enforcing the fasting rules even when the health and survival of mothers and their infants were at stake.
She also encouraged followers to remain steadfast in their mission, reinforcing the teachings that had drawn them into the forest and discouraging them from abandoning the path prescribed by Mackenzie.
It was a disturbing contrast: a woman whose appearance in court suggested gentleness had occupied a position of authority in a system that demanded obedience even at the expense of human survival.
Her story offers a glimpse into how Mackenzie's control of Shakahola was sustained not by the preacher alone, but by a network of trusted followers who turned his teachings into rules and ensured that others lived and died by them.
Born 47 years ago, she grew up in a close-knit family of 13 children in Kisumu Ndogo, Malindi, where her parents, David Kahindi and Ruth Kadzo, raised them in a strong Christian environment.
She was the ninth-born in a family whose members went on to establish themselves in different professions, including education, medicine, the clergy and public service.
Her entry into Mackenzie's religious movement was, however, closely linked to her family. Her mother, Ruth, had worshipped in the same church as Mackenzie before he established Good News International Ministries.
When the preacher sought a place to hold his fellowship, she offered him a hall she had constructed within her compound in Kisumu Ndogo.
After her mother relocated to Kanagoni, Ms Kahindi and her siblings were left to look after the premises. At the time, she and her husband, Mwakalama, were running a grocery shop in the neighbourhood.
Mary Kadzo Kahindi (second left) and Michael Mweri Baya (second right) appearing before Lady Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache at the High Court in Mombasa in this photo taken on October 9, 2025.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation
The couple gradually became attracted to Mackenzie's teachings and eventually emerged among his close associates. When the preacher moved his congregation to Furunzi, Kahindi and her husband followed him.
Her mother later disagreed with Mackenzie's teachings, particularly those discouraging formal education, medical treatment and conventional marriage practices, and walked away. Her daughter and son-in-law, however, remained committed.
Before becoming part of Mackenzie's inner circle, Kahindi had built a modest working life.
After completing her secondary education at Gede Secondary School, she undertook domestic work and later found employment in the tourism industry as a tour guide, waiter and housekeeper.
She eventually established Blessed Auto Paint Shop, a business dealing in car paints. She took pride in the enterprise, having acquired specialised painting skills through experience and self-training.
Financial difficulties and health challenges eventually forced her to close the shop. She and her husband sold its assets and used the proceeds to purchase land in Shakahola Forest, where she turned to farming before her arrest.
Mary Kadzo Kahindi, wife of Paul Mackenzie's second-in-command, Smart Mwakalama, listens to his sentence before the High Court in Mombasa on November 6, 2026.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation
The couple had six children, although Kahindi told probation officers that she did not know their whereabouts. The precise circumstances and whereabouts of all the children remain unclear.
Despite her conviction, Kahindi denied responsibility for the crimes and did not demonstrate remorse, according to the probation assessment.
The probation officer observed that she appeared more concerned about the loss of property than the deaths of her children and other victims.
More troublingly, she continued to hold beliefs associated with Good News International Ministries and expressed a desire to return to her Shakahola farm.
Her continued attachment to the movement, coupled with her apparent lack of remorse, raised concerns about her prospects for rehabilitation.
