A Shanzu court continued to hear the Shakahola massacre case in which prime suspect Paul Nthege Mackenzie and others were charged with terrorism-related counts.
The 6th prosecution witness, a homicide detective, on Wednesday, July 24 continued with his testimony before Senior Principal Magistrate, Leah Juma.
Police Constable Bernard Jefwa earlier informed Magistrate Juma how he discovered the victims of the massacre, bound with ropes and wrapped in blankets and white sheets.
According to Jefwa, he exhumed the 429 bodies one at a time from the vast forest before transferring them to the morgue.
“I extracted the bodies from the soil after grave diggers had reached the burial site. I marked each body and assigned them field names before sealing the body bags and removing them from the graves,” he explained.
He stated that his supervisor, Martin Nyunguto, called him on April 17, 2023, with clear instructions to travel to Kilifi County to take over investigations into the deaths of two minors under unclear circumstances, as well as their burial.
He traveled to Malindi the following day, and on April 19, they entered the forest with a team that included the homicide director, forensic team, crime scene investigators, pathologists, government chemist personnel, public health officers, among others.
“Upon arriving at Shakahola Forest, my colleagues and I encountered individuals sleeping under the sheds and appearing weak. Later, we conducted searches, rescues, and grave identifications. Some victims appeared sickly and requested water,” he explained.
The witness indicated that they were shown the grave where the two minors were alleged to have been buried. Later on, he stated that some of the rescued victims were taken to Malindi Sub County Referral Hospital.
“During the process of identifying whether there were more victims, we realized that the area was vast and contained many suspicious graves aside from the one we had come to exhume,” he said.
The aim and objective of the exercise, he noted, shifted to a rescue operation and grave identification by a witness, who was an escapee. He mentioned that the team was directed to the various grave sites by an escapee.
“A few days later, a male individual who accompanied the investigation team was able to show us where the minors were buried, and indeed we conducted the exhumation and placed the bodies in body bags,” he said.
He stated that during all phases of the exhumation, the pathologist was responsible for coordinating the process and packaging the bodies, while the crime scene officers handled the documentation.
The prosecution team that led the witness in the examination-in-chief consists of SADPP Peter Kiprop, ADPP Jami Yamina, SPPC Anthony Musyoka Victor Owiti, PPC Betty Rubia and SPC Peris Ogega.
