Paul Mackenzie’s Criminal History and Judiciary Staff Investigation
As the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) continues to exhume bodies from a vast plot of land in the Shakahola forest that has been associated with the Good News International church and its leader Paul Mackenzie, the Judiciary has continued to delve deeper into the controversial self-proclaimed preacher’s run-ins with the law in recent years.
As of Thursday evening, the seventh day of the exhumation operation, the death toll from the deadly starvation cult stood at 109, with more bodies expected to be discovered as the operation continues.
Numerous Kenyans and human rights activists have also questioned whether police and judicial officers were complicit in the crimes allegedly committed by Mackenzie and his church nearly two decades ago.
The Judiciary has now provided an update on the cult leader Mackenzie and his co-accused’s cases that are or have been pending before the court.
According to the statement released on Thursday evening, Mackenzie has a history with the law dating back to March 2017.
In that case, Mackenzie and two other defendants were charged with the crime of providing Basic Education in an unregistered institution.
Later, the three entered into a plea bargain with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), and the trial court discharged them and ordered them to be of good behavior.
Mackenzie was subsequently indicted on four counts on October 17, 2017. The charges included radicalization and failure to enroll his children in mandatory elementary and secondary school. He entered a not-guilty plea and was found not guilty on October 29, 2021.
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Mackenzie was charged with three counts on April 11, 2019, including incitement to disobedience and possession and distribution of films that had not been reviewed and approved by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB).
In this case, he pleaded not guilty once more. The defense will present its case on June 26 of this year.
Mackenzie was mentioned in five separate applications for various criminal offenses. In 2017, he and 20 others were detained for seven days. Because they were conducting child radicalization investigations after they were discovered with 73 children in a church.
The remaining four stemmed from the ongoing Shakahola investigations. One of which specifically linked Mackenzie to the murder of two children in Shakahola. This application was eventually denied due to lack of merit.
The other applications involved the exhumation of the remains of fourteen unidentified individuals. While another application authorized the exhumation of the 800-acre Shakahola land.
Mackenzie’s Good News International Church was also involved in a children’s protection and care case in October 2017. A criminal case in March 2019, and a criminal application involving three individuals on Thursday.
All of this serves as a backdrop as the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) begins investigating judicial officers. Who handled the controversial televangelist’s cases to determine whether misconduct occurred.
Paul Mackenzie’s Criminal History and Judiciary Staff Investigation
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