• The matter will come up again on February 8, when the issue of the bond application will be heard and determined.
• The terrorism-related charges came a day after Mackenzie and 30 other accused persons were presented in a Malindi court with the murder of Shakahola victims.
Image: CHARLES MGHENYI
Cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 94 co-accused persons were on Thursday charged with four counts of terror-related activities.
They denied the charges before Shanzu senior principal magistrate Joe Omido.
They were charged with engaging in criminal activity, radicalisation, facilitation of the commission of a terror act and being found in possession of terrorism-related articles in Shakahola.
The charge sheet indicates that Mackenzie and his co-accused engaged in organised criminal activities, thereby endangering lives and leading to the deaths of 429 people in Shakahola.
They are accused of misleading members of Good News International Ministries to fast to death between 2020 and 2023, at Kwa Mackenzie in Shakahola Forest, Chakama location, in Magarini, Kilifi county.
In the second offence, the suspects are accused of promoting an extreme belief system to facilitate ideologically-based violence, including fasting to death, by advancing religious change.
The third charge was that the suspects adopted an extreme belief system to facilitate ideologically-based violence to the point of fasting to death by advancing religious change while living in the vast Shakahola forest.
On the fourth charge, Mackenzie and Smart Mwakalama (the second in command at GNI) were accused of facilitating the commission of a terrorist act.
The court was informed that Mackenzie and Mwakalama transported the members and followers of the Good News International Ministries between Shakahola Forest and Malindi Townshi.
In the fifth charge, Mackenzie and his wife Rhoda Maweu, were found knowingly in possession of CDs, DVDs, books and pamphlets for use in instigating the commission of a terrorist act to endanger the lives of the members and followers of the Good News International Ministries.
Mackenzie, Mwakalama and Maweu denied the charges.
The matter will come up on February 8, when the issue of the bond application will be heard and determined.
The terrorism-related charges came a day after Mackenzie and 30 other accused persons were presented in a Malindi court with the murder of Shakahola victims.
The High Court in Malindi ordered the suspects to first undergo a mental health assessment before they stand trial for murder.
The Director of Public Prosecution said Mackenzie and his co-accused jointly murdered at least 191 children in Shakahola
In the case, 11 children out of the 191 who died at Shakahola have been identified as Seth Hinzano Ngala, Evabra Dito Ngala, Sifa Edison, Nathan Mathu, Neema Robert, Joyce Amani, Stacy Hadama, Elna Mpa, Ejah Nyaleso, Sara Peter and Patience Kahindi.
One of the 11 children identified through DNA, is said to belong to Mwakalama.
The court was told that the children were killed between January 2021 and September 2023 in Shakahola.
DCI officers said it is reasonably suspected that Mackenzie and the co-accused were directly responsible for the deaths of children and unlawful burials in Shakahola.
The Malindi case will be mentioned on February 6.