Kenyan Woman Tells Court She Saw Paul Mackenzie Turn Into a Snake

A witness in the trial of preacher Paul Mackenzie has told a Kenyan court that she saw him apparently transform into a snake before the creature bit her husband and disappeared into a hole.

The woman, identified as L.A., was giving evidence in the case arising from the deaths of followers of Mackenzie’s Good News International (GNI) church. She said the incident happened at about 7pm while she and her husband, J.O., were living at Shakahola.

L.A. told the court that Mackenzie had been at their homestead shortly before the alleged transformation. She said he initially looked normal, but his head then appeared to change into that of a snake, followed by the rest of his body.

She said the creature moved towards her husband and bit him on the leg before entering a hole in a nearby mud bed. Her husband, she said, saw only the animal’s tail as it disappeared.

L.A. said she was unable to react immediately after what she had witnessed. When State Counsel Jami Yamina asked whether she could have been dreaming, she rejected the suggestion and said she had been awake.

The testimony forms part of a wider prosecution case alleging that Mackenzie’s teachings exerted extreme influence over his followers and contributed to deaths at Shakahola and later at Kwa Binzaro. Mackenzie and his co-accused deny the charges.

L.A. told the court that she had previously attended Voice of Salvation Church before joining GNI. She said she became convinced that Mackenzie’s teachings offered the correct path to salvation and moved to Shakahola with her husband.

She said followers were taught that conventional education and employment were sinful and that medical treatment should be avoided because Jesus was regarded as the only healer. She also described teachings about national identity documents, saying followers were told that the Huduma Namba and identity cards were linked to the biblical “mark of the beast”.

L.A. said she followed some of those teachings by burning her children’s birth certificates. She kept her own identity card because she believed she had already received the alleged mark. She also said hospitals were portrayed as evil and that the serpent symbol associated with medicine was presented as part of those teachings.

The witness said she and her husband later returned to Kwa Binzaro after Mackenzie, who was in custody, contacted her husband. She said they were persuaded to return to what followers called “jangwani”, or the wilderness, to undertake prolonged fasting while waiting to meet Jesus.

L.A. said Mackenzie later spoke to her for about 20 minutes and claimed to possess the souls of people who had previously lived at Shakahola. She said she believed him and agreed to return to Kwa Binzaro. She now links that decision to the deaths of her six children.

Her husband, J.O., separately told the court that all six of their children, aged between two and 16, died at Kwa Binzaro. He said the family had lived at Shakahola from May 2021 until February 2023 and attended Mackenzie’s teachings under “Mitola” trees.

J.O. alleged that followers were discouraged from reading the Bible because Mackenzie claimed there was no need to do so while Jesus was already present among them. He also said members were instructed to deceive government officials because the authorities, including the President and local administrators, were portrayed as evil.

He said the movement discouraged marriage, employment and ordinary family life. Followers were instead encouraged to undertake “kufunga express”, which he described as extreme fasting without food or water and as the quickest way to reach heaven.

J.O. became emotional while describing the deaths of his children. He recalled a four-year-old child repeatedly asking for milk tea before dying. He also alleged that he witnessed other followers being suffocated, including a man known as Owino, whom he said was alive before the alleged incident.

The court has also heard evidence about the sites where investigators say victims 

were buried. Chief Inspector Timothy Bett, who led crime-scene documentation at Kwa Binzaro, told the court that the site is about 62 kilometres from Malindi. He said graves were found among dense vegetation about 500 metres from nearby homes.

Bett said investigators identified 19 intact graves and five that had been disturbed. Human remains were found around some of the sites. He attributed some of the disturbance to wild animals and said some graves were shallow, in some cases no more than about two feet deep. He also said most of the bodies had been buried without clothing.

The proceedings include evidence from an earlier stage of the case. The court has adopted testimony from 18 prosecution witnesses who previously appeared before the High Court, along with exhibits, crime-scene records, inventories and other documents.

The Kwa Binzaro case is part of the wider legal proceedings arising from the deaths at Shakahola, where more than 450 bodies linked to Mackenzie’s followers were exhumed in 2023. A separate operation at Kwa Binzaro began in 2025, with prosecutors alleging that at least 52 people died there.

Mackenzie, also known as Mtumishi, is standing trial alongside Shallyne Temba Anindo, known as Ann; Kahindi Kazungu Garama, alias Mlewa; Tom Ochieng Mkonwe, also known as Thomas or Tomaso; Julius Tuva Luwali; Johnson Gona Richard; Charles Mutua Musee, alias Mzee Mutua; and James Kazungu Kahindi, known as Ponda or Baba Bura.

The eight accused face six counts involving alleged organised criminal activity, radicalisation and terrorism-related offences. Prosecutors allege that GNI operated as an organised criminal group and that its activities endangered followers and were linked to at least 52 deaths at Kwa Binzaro.

Other allegations include promoting an extremist belief system hostile to the authority of the Kenyan state, facilitating terrorist acts, moving victims to Kwa Binzaro and possessing digital material containing Mackenzie’s sermons. Prosecutors allege that some of the material encouraged prolonged fasting that endangered followers.

The prosecution also alleges that Temba and Garama helped acquire land at Kwa Binzaro that was later used in connection with the alleged offences. Garama, Luwali and Gona are separately accused of helping transport victims from Malindi to the site.

All eight accused deny the charges. The court will assess L.A.’s account alongside the other witness evidence, forensic findings and documentary records as the Kwa Binzaro trial continues.