A father whose six children perished in the Shakahola massacre was astonished to meet his wife alive for the first time in three years.
Stephen Mwiti met the wife, Bahati Joan, in court this week.
Mwiti said he was told the wife was among the over 400 followers of Good News International (GNI), a cult linked to controversial pastor Paul Makenzi, who died inside the forest.
He, however, says he holds no grudge against the wife despite the death of their children.
"I leave everything in the hands of God," he told the court.
Mwiti was testifying before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku in a case where 92 suspects, including Makenzi and Joan from Tana River, are charged with manslaughter.
Makenzi, a self-proclaimed pastor, together with Joan and other suspects linked to the massacre are also facing terrorism and radicalisation in addition to 238 charges of manslaughter and murder.
They are charged with causing the death of 238 people, including children and unidentified persons, between January 2021 and August 2023 in Shakahola Forest in Malindi, Kilifi County.
This week, Mwiti positively identified his wife, who is being represented alongside other accused persons by lawyer Lawrence Obonyo. Mwiti said he had not seen his wife since August 2022.
Mwiti narrated how he confronted his wife on different occasions after she stopped taking their children to school, a narrative he told the court that she got from Makenzi's summons.
Unnamed parcel
He told the court that his wife stopped watching news and always watched Makenzi's summons, which Mwiti told the court that he did not like.
"I decided to listen to the summons one day, and I heard Makenzi claiming that education was evil and that no one should visit the hospital. I did not like the summons and asked my wife why she was so keen on those teachings, and she told me that God will intervene," Mwiti told the court, adding that he last saw his children and wife on August 20, 2022.
"On that day, I left my pregnant wife and five children at home and went to hustle just like any other head of the family. I returned in the evening and found the wife and children had left with their clothes. They only left behind the children's school uniforms."
After months, Mwiti said the wife called and requested an unnamed parcel, but she was hesitant to reveal where it was to be dropped.
He gave a matatu conductor the parcel, who later told him that some people had picked it at Shakahola.
