Early signals that illegal activities were taking place in Shakahola Forest as early as 2021 were overlooked by security agencies, only for more than 429 bodies to be exhumed from the same area two years later.
Former Lango Baya Police Station Officer Commanding Station (OCS) Hamara Hassantold a Mombasa court on Thursday, August 15, that a report of alleged illegal land invasion, subdivision and sale was made to their station on August 4, 2021, but the matter was not pursued to identify those involved.
Chief Inspector Hassan was in his office that day when two complainants, a Mr Alfred Mwazeze from Watamu and Daniel Kitsao, visited the police station to lodge a complaint.
The two introduced themselves as official members of Chakama Ranch Phase III, which is located in the Shakahola area.
“Mr Mwazeze, who was the farm secretary, complained that the company's land was being sold. They cited a piece of land they suspected had been sold three kilometres from Shakahola Junction towards Sala Gate,” said Mr Hassan.
According to the officer, he then advised the two to record statements with Police Constable Ibrahim Ali so that the matter could be followed up.
“The two told me they were going to have a meeting with the entire committee and would call me back. They left but did not call as promised,” the officer said during examination in chief by state counsel Mohamed Yassir.
Mr Hassan said he called them later, but they told him that the matter was now being handled by the Lango Baya Assistant County Commissioner (ACC).
Prior to the complainants' visit to the police station, the witness said that they had unsuccessfully sought help from the area chief regarding the sale of their property by unknown persons.
The officer mentioned that he did not pursue the matter after being informed that the Lango Baya ACC was handling it.
"We did not know what was happening in the forest. It is not true that we knew but did not dare to confront Paul Mackenzie and arrest him," he said.
Led by a team of prosecutors comprising Jami Yamina, Alex Gituma, Victor Simbi, Victor Owiti, Betty Rubia and Hillary Isiaho, the officer said he had conducted investigations and found that the land occupied by Mackenzie did not belong to him.
"The land known as Kwa Mackenzie belongs to Chakama Ranch. Mackenzie has no title to this land," he said.
The former OCS, however, noted that they could not charge Mackenzie with the offence of forcible occupation because the complainants did not disclose the identity of those who sold their land and to whom.
Mr Hassan also admitted that the prime suspect, Paul Mackenzie, had reported to the same police station in November 2022, under OB NO 15/8/11/2022 at 4pm, about a woman claiming on social media that he was transporting people into the forest and killing them.
However, the officer stated he was off duty that day, and therefore, the matter was handled by his deputy.
“I wish to clarify that I was not at the police station. I was off duty from November 4 to 13, 2022. Upon my return, I was unaware of the situation until it was discovered on April 1, 2023,” he told Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku.
He revealed that his deputy, Inspector Stanley Bet, who was on duty at the time, delegated Mackenzie's report to Police Constable Elizabeth Muchai.
"Upon enquiry, I found out that after Mackenzie filed the report, he was referred to the Crime Officer where he met Police Constable Simiyu who advised him to report the matter to SCCIO Malindi where he was attended to by Sergeant Yator. No case file was opened at Lango Baya Police Station on the matter," he said.
Mr Hassan, who is now attached to Kinango Sub-county Police Headquarters in Kwale, said Lango Baya Police Station was ill-equipped to handle Mackenzie's case because it required cybercrime expertise to trace the source of the social media post in question.
The witness denied any knowledge of Mackenzie prior to his arrest in April 2023, when mass graves were discovered in the same forest where they had been informed that unknown individuals were subdividing and selling land to outsiders.
“I first learned of Mackenzie when a report of child mistreatment and parental neglect was made, and I met him for the first time when we went to arrest him,” said the officer.
He stated that this report was logged under OB/10/17/03/23 at around noon. He then took action by instructing two police officers to accompany the complainants to Shakahola to investigate the situation.
“Upon returning, they brought back a young boy who was very weak. He recounted being abandoned by his parents without food. He mentioned that his two siblings died of starvation and were buried within the house compound. The officers reported the incident after returning from the forest,” he said during cross-examination by Mackenzie’s advocate, Lawrence Obonyo.
He noted that they then proceeded to Mackenzie’s homestead in the forest on March 22, 2023, and arrested him for the offence of murder, as he was starving his followers to death.
Following Mackenzie's arrest and subsequent release on bail, the witness stated that a conflict broke out between the people of Shakahola and Mackenzie's men, resulting in the arrest of eight people.
On April 13, 2023, he said they returned to Mackenzie’s farm and managed to rescue 15 people, four of whom died before reaching Malindi Sub County General Hospital.
"We found them very weak as they had been starving for days," he said.
However, a witness who testified on Monday and Tuesday told the court that the area leadership was aware of what was happening in the forest but did nothing to prevent people from starving to death.
The second prosecution witness did not tell the court how she knew the area leadership was aware of Mackenzie's activities in the forest.
The witness, who was a minor, identified Mackenzie and his men and the role they played in the forest to ensure that the deadly fast was enforced so that every believer would be dead by June of last year.
Mackenzie and his team have denied 238 manslaughter charges, asserting that the deaths in Shakahola are not linked to the freedom of religion and assembly they practised in the forest.
