Judge Diana Mochache is currently reading her 1,000-page judgment in a case where Good News International church lead pastor Paul Mackenzie and 30 of his associates and followers were charged with murder.
Mochache arrived at 9.40 am to a packed, temporarily erected courtroom, under a tent at the Mombasa Law Court's backyard, due to the expected high number of members of the public, judicial officers, and security officers.
Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga also arrived 14 minutes after Mochache arrived and had already started reading her judgment.
His presence showed the extraordinary nature of the case, one of the most significant in Kenya's history.
Mochache began by psychologically preparing the courtroom that they would be there for the long haul, having handwritten 6,000 pages of the proceedings since September 2025.
Mackenzie and his co-accused faced charges of murdering 191 people, including 190 children and one adult.
The prosecution presented 123 witnesses, while the defence presented nine.
The packed courtroom, which was offered water and refreshments due to the extraordinary nature of the case, could be seen smiling wryly, shaking their heads in disbelief, as Mochache mentioned outrageous aspects of Mackenzie's cult.
These included forcing the cult's followers to withdraw their children from school, preventing them from seeking medical attention from hospitals, and forcing them to fast to death, in order to meet Jesus.
At some point, Mackenzie's lawyer Lawrence Obonyo asked the court permission for a health break for his clients.
Mochache gave permission for anyone of them to be escorted out for a health break but said she would continue reading her judgment regardless.
Mackenzie, according to Mochache, rejected government institutions, their officers and all their activities, labelling them satanic and anti-Christ.
She said Mackenzie attacked democracy as a satanic doctrine.
Mackenzie told his followers the word democracy was derived from the word demon, according to Mochache.
Mochache said evidence showed as the preaching of the end times intensified, more followers sold their property and relocated from their decent homes into the over 4,000-acre forest in Shakahola to wait for the last days on earth.
"Once they settled at Shakahola, they frequently gathered under the Mitola trees to listen to Mackenzie," Mochache said.
She said the relocation to Shakahola was to force followers to move from the condemned world and into a sacred place.
Mackenzie had stripped the outside world of its legitimacy, hence the move to the wilderness, according to Mochache.
Indeed, the move was Mackenzie's way to hide from authorities, Mochache said.
The most disturbing manifestation of radicalisation is the inverted instinct where mothers, instead of protecting their children naturally, force their children to suffer, Mochache noted.
She said some families were wiped out as they were forced to fast to death.
The court heard how fathers and mothers beat their fasting children for seeking food.
"The child survival instinct was treated as an obstacle to be overcome rather than something to be embraced," Mochache said.
By the time of going to press, the judgment was still being read, Mochache having gone one and a half hours already
