Horror of children who dug own graves, starved to death as family watched

Ann Onyoso Amanya, the mother who watched her six underage children starve to death in Shakahola, told the court that they had dug their own graves, where their father later buried them.

She said four of the children died days after they began fasting. The youngest, Aron, died after four days, Elijah on the sixth day, Lona on the seventh day and Snyder on the ninth day. Onyoso told Justice Diana Mochache that whenever a child died, she called her husband, Enos Amanya, who would bury them in the graves they had dug in preparation for their deaths. She said the children began fasting after their elder sister Snyder claimed she had received a vision in a dream instructing them to do so. Amanya has since confessed to killing the children.

Anyoso, a 52-year-old woman from Butere, Mumias, told the court that her children abandoned a comfortable city life in Nairobi for the wilderness, where food was scarce, driven by their faith.

She said the family once lived well in Kasarani, where she and her husband raised their seven children in their own homestead.

Amanya ran a successful garbage collection business with his younger brother and was able to educate the children, with the firstborn and second-born attending boarding school.

She said things changed when he joined Good News International (GNI), a church led by controversial cleric Paul Mackenzie until it was de-registered in 2019.

The court fell silent as she recounted how all six children died one by one, without intervention or guidance from any adult, including their father, who would later appear to bury them. “I could not stop them because it was their own decision. I could not tell them otherwise. Their father was not there. Makenzi did not order anyone to fast. The children are with Jesus and I have no issue; that was also the path for me,” Onyoso told the court.

“My youngest child, Aron Joshua, died after fasting for four days. Elijah took water and survived but later confessed to his siblings and continued fasting until he died on the sixth day. Lona went to Jesus on the seventh day, and Snyder died on the ninth day,” she said.

She added that only one child, Israel Veronica, who was above 18 years, survived the fasting after she left Shakahola following a fallout with her father. Onyoso further said Amanya carried the frail children as they told him they were going to Jesus and urged him to prepare to fast and meet Him.

She told the court that three of the children even dug their own shallow graves, and as parents, they could not stop them because they believed it was a directive from “Jesus”.

“My three young children, Bryson, Amanya, Aron Starpo and Aron Joshua, were digging their graves where they were to be buried,” she said.

Onyoso was testifying in her defence and that of 31 co-accused persons in the case involving the deaths of 191 people. Amanya had testified against Onyoso and Mackenzie after confessing to the killing of 191 people and admitting that Mackenzie ordered followers to fast to death.

He also confessed to killing his six children, a claim disputed by the wife and other formerly co-accused persons.

During cross-examination by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina and Senior Prosecutor Ngina Mutua, Onyoso said she was not aware that she had a responsibility to protect her children from fasting and other harmful practices.