A father whose four children vanished during the Shakahola tragedy has told the Mombasa High Court that he firmly believes they are still alive despite DNA and postmortem results indicating that one set of remains exhumed from the forest belongs to his family.
Antony Wyclif Muhoro, 44, testified in the ongoing trial in which pastor Paul Mackenzie and 29 others face charges linked to the deaths of 191 people in what prosecutors describe as a cult-like operation that drove followers to starvation.
“In my dreams, I see them alive”
Soft-spoken and visibly emotional, Muhoro recounted how, in September, investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) informed him that DNA profiling had matched him to the remains of a seven-year-old girl. The body was among those exhumed from the notorious Shakahola Forest in Kilifi.
But for Muhoro, accepting that conclusion has been almost impossible.
“Your Honour, I am a prayerful person. In my dreams, I have seen that all my children are alive,” he told the hushed courtroom. “My wife has also told me they are alive and asked me to visit her in prison so she can tell me where they are.”
Even after being told of the 99.99% DNA match between the child’s remains and himself and his wife, Millicent Oyayi Awour, Muhoro said he refuses to believe his daughter is dead. He testified that he has never gone to the morgue nor claimed the body.
A Mother’s Secret and a Family Torn Apart
Muhoro’s wife is currently held at Shimo La Tewa Prison. According to the witness, she insists the children are alive but has declined to reveal where they are being kept.
His account painted a picture of a family slowly drawn into the orbit of Mackenzie’s Good News International Church. In March 2023, Muhoro said, his wife told him that followers in Nairobi had been advised to flee ahead of expected election-related violence. She claimed she was travelling to Siaya to care for her sick mother.
Instead, she traveled to Malindi with the children joining gatherings of Mackenzie’s followers in the days before the mass starvation scandal came to light.
The first sign something was wrong came when Muhoro saw news reports about Mackenzie’s arrest for allegedly instructing followers, including children, to fast to death. Alarmed, he reported his family missing at Makongeni Police Station.
A Desperate Search and a Disturbing Discovery
A week later, Muhoro received a call from Malindi Sub-County Hospital. A rescued victim had given medics his contact details. When he arrived, he found his wife hospitalized and unable to speak.
“She later told me she had left the children with a woman called Mama Nadia,” he said. “That woman has never been traced.”
From there, investigators directed him to undergo DNA testing an examination that ultimately led to the results now before the court.
A Family Caught in a National Tragedy
The Shakahola massacre has shaken Kenya, with more than 400 bodies exhumed and hundreds of people still missing. Muhoro’s testimony added a deeply personal layer to the case a father torn between scientific evidence and the faint hope that his children are still somewhere out there.
As the trial continues, one question hangs heavily in the courtroom: is Muhoro clinging to hope, or does his story point to unanswered questions about the fate of the missing?
For now, he remains steadfast.
“I believe they are alive,” he repeated. “Until I see otherwise, I will continue to pray for them.”
