A wife has told a Mombasa court that alleged teachings by Pastor Paul Mackenzie left her family torn apart after her husband embraced beliefs.
According to a statement released by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the woman was among four prosecution witnesses who testified on Tuesday in the ongoing Kwa Binzaro manslaughter trial.
The trial is ongoing before Senior Principal Magistrate Eric Wambo at the Mombasa Law Courts.
Pastor Mackenzie and his co-accused are jointly facing 29 counts of manslaughter, charges they have denied.
The witness testified virtually that her husband became a follower of Pastor Mackenzie's teachings after regularly watching him on TV.
"He was allegedly taught that children should not attend school and that sick people should not seek medical treatment because doing so was against God's plan," she told the court.
According to the ODPP statement, the witness said the alleged teachings significantly affected their family life, with her husband stopping payment of school fees for their children and leaving her to shoulder the responsibility alone.
She further testified that in 2025, her husband informed her that he was travelling to Homa Bay to resolve family land issues.
"However, he left with two of their children, never returned home, became unreachable by phone, and she has not seen them since," she testified.
The witness said his phone became unreachable, prompting her to report the matter to the police as a missing persons case.
The witness said she later learnt that her husband and the children had travelled to Mombasa aboard a bus.
After confirming the travel details at the bus station, she suspected they had proceeded to Shakahola.
According to the prosecution, she later received a phone call from a man who informed her that a body matching her husband's description had been found.
After being shown an image, she confirmed it was her husband.
The court also heard from another prosecution witness who testified that his brother had become a preacher at Good News International Church and regularly attended services with his family.
The witness told the court that concerns emerged after his brother allegedly embraced teachings discouraging children from attending school and instructing followers not to seek medical treatment when ill, claiming it was against God's will.
"According to the witness, these teachings caused frequent disagreements between his brother and his wife," the statement by ODPP said.
He stated that his brother later purchased land in Shakahola and relocated there with his family.
The witness told the court he made several trips to Shakahola in search of his brother but was unable to trace him.
During one visit, he said he met Pastor Mackenzie and inquired about his brother's whereabouts but did not receive any information.
On another visit, he and his siblings were reportedly turned back by police after being informed that an exhumation exercise was underway and were referred to the Kenya Red Cross help desk following reports of deaths in Shakahola.
The witness also testified that he later received information that his brother had relocated to Kwa Binzaro.
However, after providing DNA samples to investigators, officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations informed him that the samples matched one of the bodies recovered during the Kwa Binzaro exhumations, believed to be that of his brother.
The prosecution also presented two additional witnesses who testified virtually before the court.
The matter will resume on Thursday when the prosecution is expected to call more witnesses.
