Kwa Binzaro massacre: DNA identifies three missing pupils as teachers narrate how they disappeared

Teachers from Busia and Siaya counties have told the Mombasa High Court that several pupils and students failed to return to school for the second term of 2025, with some later linked to the Kwa Binzaro massacre in Kilifi County, where 28 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves.

The teachers testified in the murder trial of controversial preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and seven co-accused, with the prosecution presenting evidence linking the suspects to the alleged killings in Kwa Binzaro, approximately four kilometres from Shakahola.

Presided over by Lady Justice Wendy Kagendo, the court heard that the missing learners had attended school during the first term of 2025 but did not return after the end-of-term break in April.

St. Peter's Budokomi Secondary School Senior Principal Dishon Shihundu told the court that Jael Atieno Ochieng, a Form Two student, went missing from school on March 19, 2025.

Testifying under questioning by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Frankline Sirima, Shihundu said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) wrote to the school on December 16, 2025, seeking confirmation of Jael's enrolment after she disappeared alongside her siblings.

He presented certified copies of the school's admission and attendance registers, her performance report card and a certificate of merit to confirm that she was a student at the institution.

Shihundu described Jael as a promising learner who had excelled at county level, earning an opportunity to represent the school at a regional Science and Engineering Fair.

“Shihundu said he unsuccessfully tried to reach Jael’s parents on numerous occasions,” the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) NOTED.

“This prompted him to send students who hailed from Jael’s neighborhood to establish her whereabouts. He was informed that she had left home two days earlier with her parents.”

He said he was informed that she had left home two days earlier with her parents.

In August 2025, Shihundu learnt from Jael's brother that she had travelled with her parents to Kwa Binzaro and was feared dead.

The court further heard that DNA analysis had identified one of the bodies exhumed from Kwa Binzaro as that of Jael's father, whose remains were subsequently released to the family for burial.

The court also heard evidence from Salma Olayo Anyitu, a senior teacher and games teacher at Goro Primary School in Siaya County, who confirmed that three learners linked to the case had been enrolled at the institution.

Anyitu said the DCI Homicide Unit wrote to the school's head teacher on December 16, 2025, seeking confirmation of the enrolment of Florence Akinyi, Christine Achieng and Mary Atieno.

In her response, she confirmed that the three learners had been admitted on January 8, 2024, after transferring from other schools in Siaya and Kisumu counties.

Anyitu told the court that she frequently interacted with the pupils, particularly Mary, a Grade Six learner who was a talented athlete and excelled in ball games.

However, she said, the three pupils did not return to school for the second term of 2025.

The witness added that their mother had regularly visited the school during the first term to pay the required levies and attend school meetings.

“From the evidence presented in court, the three pupils travelled with their parents from their rural home on 30th March 2025 together with their other three siblings, namely Shadrack Ochieng, Esther Achieng and Nathan to Kwa Binzaro for fasting,” the ODPP stated.

“Three bodies among those exhumed from Kwa Binzaro have since been confirmed through DNA analysis to be those of Mary Atieno, Florence Akinyi and Shadrack Ochieng.”

Jackline Awiti Akinyi, the manager of Kamalumbe Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centre in Siaya County, was the third prosecution witness.

She told the court that, following a request from the DCI, she presented records confirming that Shadrack Ochieng and Esther Akinyi were enrolled at the centre in PP1 and PP2, respectively.

Akinyi said she learnt from the children's grandmother that they had travelled from their rural home to Kwa Binzaro on March 30, 2025, alongside their four other siblings.

The testimonies form part of the prosecution's effort to establish the identities and circumstances surrounding the disappearance of people believed to have travelled to the remote Kilifi location.

The Kwa Binzaro trial comes a week after the ODPP secured the conviction of Mackenzie and 28 co-accused over the murder of 191 people, including 190 children, in the Shakahola massacre case.

In the ongoing Kwa Binzaro murder case, Mackenzie and seven co-accused are charged with allegedly jointly murdering known and unknown adults, alongside offences classified as crimes against humanity under international law.

The suspects also face manslaughter charges at the Mombasa Law Courts and radicalisation charges at the Shanzu Law Courts in connection with the Kwa Binzaro case.

The prosecution is expected to present additional witnesses as it continues to discharge its burden of proof before Justice Kagendo.