Children underwent severe psychological trauma in Shakahola, psychologist narrates
She said they handled 13 children who narrated how they were ordered not to cry for their siblings and parents who succumbed after several forced starvation
As the hearing of the Shakahola case continues today at the Tononoka law courts, psychologists have revealed how children who survived the massacre three years ago battled severe mental health repercussions.
Florence Mueni, a clinical psychologist, who testified yesterday as a witness in the case, told the court the minors suffered psychological trauma stemming from starvation, isolation, indoctrination, and exposure to death.
She revealed that some of the children experience recurring nightmares.
“The child experiences recurring nightmares and intrusive thoughts of witnessing people die. He expressed sadness when recalling the trauma, including being tied to a tree,” Mueni said about one of the children.
The physiologist and play therapist was part of the volunteers who counseled the minors and heard their untold plight, including being exposed to torture and cruelty in the Shakahola forest.
They handled 13 children who narrated how they were ordered not to cry for their siblings and parents who succumbed after several forced starvation.
In her expert evidence before Principal Magistrate Nelly Chepchirchir, Mueni testified that they performed several therapy sessions on the minors who had presented trauma and traumatic grief-related symptoms. The court heard that some children suffered from anger and stress disorders and repeated nightmares associated with the cruelty and torture of fellow children and adults.
“This child reported that the death of his brother, who died while he was watching him, was the worst part of the experience,” she added about one of the children.
Some children reported disturbing mental health symptoms linked to the harrowing ordeal in the forest, with others suffering memory gaps due to dizziness and physical weakness during the fasting period.
“He also reported fear, anger, shame, and a loss of interest in things he previously enjoyed,” she stated from the evidence obtained from a minor she had counseled.
The psychologist also testified that due to starvation and isolation, the minors’ body system had a collapse response- a trauma response where the body shuts down due to perceived danger or overwhelming stress. The expert witness said that at the initial stage of counseling, they struggled to deal with some radicalised children, who feared when they heard the name of Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie.
However, after several months of therapy and psychosocial support, the majority of children gained the confidence to process the grief and resumed schooling.
A chief also testified, narrating a series of events leading to the massacre, including reports of deaths and children out of school inside the forest.
Chief Raymond Msindah testified that they discovered many children outside school in the Shakahola forest.
Msindah said he received the reports of children being sighted within the forest by villagers adjacent to the Shakahola. He received reports that children were at Shakahola Forest and not going to school. The Chief further received reports that three children had escaped the forest and were being sheltered by village elders, Joseph Sulubu and Changawa Mangi.
He escalated the matter and got in touch with the children officers, who later transferred them to children’s homes via court orders.
The chief further proceeded to Shakahola on a fact finding mission but however could not proceed deeper in the forest after he came across a group of armed men. He then reported the matter and what he had seen in the forest to the police, who thereafter conducted a raid. He also identified one of the accused persons, Evans Sirya, among Mackenzie associates he sighted within the forest.
On Wednesday, a children’s officer narrated to the court how the minors were tortured and brutalized in the Shakahola Forest under the watch of Mackenzie and his associates.
The officer revealed that between February and March 2023, concerned Shakahola residents contacted the children’s office to report emaciated children bearing stroke marks on their bodies.
