The Shanzu Law Courts today, Thursday, 6th August 2026, heard testimony from a protected witness on how a single phone call from Paul Mackenzie in prison convinced her family to return to Kwa Binzaro, where all her children later died.
Testifying before the Senior Principal Magistrate Hon. Mwanamkuu, the witness identified as LA, told the court that Pastor Paul Mackenzie made a call to her husband identified as J.O. persuading him to return to the wilderness commonly referred to as ‘jangwani’ to fast to death in anticipation of meeting Jesus.
According to the witness, when Mackenzie made a call to her husband, he requested to speak to LA, where he told her that he had the souls of everyone who was initially shakahola and that her late wife was waiting for them in heaven.
The witness stated that after speaking with him for about 20 minutes, she agreed to return, believing the teachings were leading people to salvation.
LA corroborated the earlier testimony of her husband, JO, narrating how extremist teachings propagated by the accused persons allegedly led to the deaths of her six children.
LA told the court that she was initially a member of Voice of Salvation Church before later joining Good News International Ministries, where she embraced the teachings of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie.
She said she later relocated to Shakahola after becoming convinced that the teachings represented the true path to salvation.
The witness testified that followers were taught that formal education and employment were evil, stating that believers were told, “When you study and get a job, that work is a sin.”
She added that the teachings discouraged seeking medical treatment, claiming that Jesus alone heals and that hospitals symbolized evil because of the serpent emblem associated with the hospital cross.
According to the witness, followers were also instructed that the Huduma Namba was “the mark of the beast” and that anyone possessing a national identity card belonged to the devil.
She testified that those with identity cards were instructed to burn them.
She told the court that she did not burn her own identity card because she believed she had already received the mark of the beast.
She added that she burnt her children’s birth certificates in obedience to the teachings.
While at Shakahola, she testified that she witnessed Pastor Paul Mackenzie transform into a snake at around 7 pm.
She alleged that Mackenzie had visited their homestead before his head transformed into a snake and shortly after his body.
She said that after transformation, the snake bit the husband.
