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A key suspect in Kenya’s Shakahola cult case on Friday pleaded guilty to the murders of 191 followers, most of them children, in a prosecution linked to more than 400 deaths caused by starvation and abuse.
Enos Amanya, also known as Hallelujah, pleaded guilty before the High Court in Mombasa, becoming the first of 29 accused persons to admit involvement in the case tied to self-styled preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie.
The plea was taken by Justice Diana Kavedza, ending nearly 22 months of Amanya denying the charges.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said Amanya confessed to participating in the deaths and burials of more than 191 victims.
Prosecutors told the court the crimes occurred between January 2021 and September 2023 in the Shakahola area along Kenya’s coast.
According to the prosecution, Amanya acted with Mackenzie and other co-accused in a coordinated scheme that led to mass deaths through starvation, coercion and abuse.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina said Amanya served as a gravedigger and security enforcer for the group, ensuring followers complied with Mackenzie’s teachings.
The court heard that members of the group used coded language, referring to bodies as “fertiliser”, burials as “planting”, and death as “taking a jet” to meet Jesus.
Prosecutors read out the names of 11 children who were killed. Other victims were identified by initials, gender and the grave sites from which their bodies were exhumed.
Amanya admitted that some of the victims were his own children and said he participated in their burial with his wife, Anne Anyoso Alukhwe, who is also charged in the case.
He told the court that one child, Izrael Veronica, survived after leaving Shakahola and rejecting the group’s teachings.
After confirming the facts presented by the prosecution, Justice Kavedza convicted Amanya on his own plea of guilty.
At the request of prosecutors, the court ordered the Coast Regional Probation and Aftercare Service to prepare a victim impact assessment report ahead of sentencing and directed prison authorities to isolate Amanya for his safety.
Pre-sentencing hearings for victims’ witnesses are scheduled for February 2 to February 6.
Prosecutors closed their case following the plea after calling 120 witnesses, presenting more than 500 exhibits and conducting hearings over six months.
The case emerged in early 2023 after authorities began exhuming bodies from mass graves in Shakahola Forest, uncovering a starvation cult linked to Mackenzie’s Good News International Church.
Followers were instructed to fast to death in the belief it would hasten their journey to heaven.
