Vihiga family searches for five siblings in Shakahola forest

A family from Vihiga County whose loved one quit a mechanic job and left for Shakahola with his entire family to join Paul Mackenzie’s cult, is now expressing fears that all the five children maybe dead.

The children aged between one to 16 have not been traced or found in any of the rescue centres in Kilifi County.

The family has no clue whether they are still in the forest or among the more than 110 people whose bodies have so far been recovered from Shakahola forest.

The father, Kevin Asena, was rescued and is being held by police while his wife is receiving psychiatric assistance at a hospital in Mombasa.

“When I presented the names of the children, the attendants told me that they were not there,” Asena’s sister Roseline Asena, who had just returned from Malindi where she had travelled to trace the minors, told Citizen TV.

The Mayungu Children Rescue Centre is sheltering some of the children rescued from the thickets of Shakahola, but unfortunately, none is among Roseline’s nieces and nephews.

The devastating news is denting any hopes of ever finding the innocent souls.

“We fear that the children are gone but only DNA tests can confirm this,” said Roseline.

As the family awaits DNA results, the memories of their nieces and nephews remain vivid.

“Those kids were precious to me and the entire family,” said Roseline.

Kevin Asena remains detained by police in Malindi and was among those who appeared in court on Tuesday this week alongside Paul Mackenzie to face terrorism charges over the deaths of more than 100 people found buried in Shakahola.

In the exercise of tracing missing persons, there are 8 registered cases of 12 missing persons as of Thursday; 8 are males and 4 are females.

Meanwhile, 7 DNA samples have been collected at the laboratory in the time-consuming process of DNA identification on dead bodies and matching it with relatives.