• The case being heard by Mombasa chief magistrate Ale Ithuku resumed this week with three protected witnesses, mainly minors testifying.
• On Wednesday afternoon, a 42-year-old man who sold 10 acres to Mackenzie in Shakahola testified.
Image: The Star
The 11th witness will today take to the stand to testify in the manslaughter case against cult preacher Paul Mackenzie and his 94 co-accused persons.
The case being heard by Mombasa chief magistrate Ale Ithuku resumed this week with three protected witnesses, mainly minors testifying.
On Wednesday afternoon, a 42-year-old man who sold 10 acres to Mackenzie in Shakahola testified.
He narrated how he was among the first team that rescued people from Shakahola on April 23 and 24 last year.
Earlier on Tuesday, the court heard how Mackenzie considered his followers' chosen ones and non-followers as worldly people.
The witness was one of the three under protection.
He said Mackenzie referred to his followers as "Wateule" while those out of Shakahola were regarded as non-followers and were branded "watu wamataifa."
The witness narrated to the court that her mother learned of Mackenzie from watching his preaching on TV while they were in Eldoret where they lived.
She said her mother and father disagreed after she attempted to impose Mackenzie’s teachings on him
The witness said the mother then moved to Kitale before going to Madukani in Malindi, where Mackenzie arranged for someone to pick them up and take them to Shakahola.
Mackenzie is facing multiple counts of manslaughter for the deaths of 239 people from Shakahola.
Over 420 bodies were retrieved from shallow graves in the expansive forest in Kilifi County.
Mackenzie also has pending murder charges at the High Court in Malindi.
He has denied the manslaughter charges before the Mombasa court and remains in remand.
The court has since dropped charges against two of his co-accused persons following their deaths.
Elsewhere in Nairobi, former Harambee Stars and Gor Mahia football player Collins Okoth Ougo alias Gatuso will today take a plea in a murder charge at the High Court in Nairobi.
Gattuso was arraigned before Justice Esther Maina on Wednesday alongside his co-accused, Sylvia Aoko but the plea-taking was deferred because his mental assessment report had not been filed in court.
The prosecution however said the reports for both suspects were ready and would be filed immediately.
The court then directed that the report be filed and the suspects arraigned to take a plea today.
Gatuso, a renowned ex-Gor Mahia and Harambee Stars midfield maestro, and his co-accused are alleged to have murdered a three-year-old girl in Lucky Summer Estate in Nairobi in April.