Month: April 2023

Televangelist Ezekiel Odero will spend his weekend at the Port Police Station until Tuesday when the Shanzu Law Court Principal Magistrate will deliver a ruling on whether to detain him for 30 days pending completion of investigations on deaths at his church.

The office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) filed a miscellaneous criminal application before Shanzu Law Court Principal Magistrate Joe Omido seeking detention of the suspect for 30 days for the investigation team to complete investigations and submit the file to the DPP for review.

Prosecutor Jami Yamina said that based on credible intelligence there are over 100 deaths that occurred in the precincts of Televangelist Odero between 2022 to 2023 and the potential witnesses are followers or strong believers of the accused.

Odero’s lawyer Jared Magelo in his objection to the application accused the police of being desperate while people lost their lives under their noses.

In his sworn affidavit, the lead investigator George Muriuki said he is undertaking investigations relating to a serious crime that Odero is jointly and by conspiracy suspected to have committed.

Some of the serious crimes being investigated are murder, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalisation, genocide, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud and money laundering and for being accessories before or after the fact.

Investigators will try to piece up crucial evidence after preliminary investigations show the televangelist TV station christened Times TV was purchased for Sh500,000 from Paul Mckenzie who is under investigation over the Shakahola massacre.

The investigator would want to establish whether the deaths reported at the precincts of Televangelist Odera church in Mavueni have a link with dead bodies being exhumed in the 800-acre land in Shakahola or were released to relatives for internment.

The dead bodies, according to the investigator and based on intelligence information, were preserved at a privately run morgue in Kilifi before being transported and interred in the Shakahola Forest.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Judiciary has released the status of pending cases that are before the court regarding the charges preferred against Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge of Good News International Ministries in Malindi and his co-accused on the offence of mass deaths and sufferings.

The Judiciary while offering its deep sympathy to the families, relatives and friends of victims affected by the unravelling mass deaths, sufferings and injuries at Shakahola Village in Kilifi County said the court has released the statement to share and update members of the public on the cases.

In a press statement sent to newsrooms, the Judiciary stated that upon perusal of the court files pending in court of Good News International Ministries in Malindi, mentioned that the Pastor first case was on October 17, 2017.

He was charged for radicalisation, promoting extreme beliefs, offering education in unregistered institutions, failing to take his children to compulsory primary and secondary education and failing to provide the children with education.

In 2019, the Pastor with a number of his followers faced other charges at the Malindi Magistrate’s Court on various occasions with child neglect.

During the hearings, complaints against Pastor Mackenzie and his co-accused were also discussed by stakeholders in the Justice chain led by the then Presiding Judge at the Malindi Law Courts under the auspice of the Kilifi County Court Users Committee (CUC) in its Quarterly meeting of November 15, 2019.

CUC discussed the issue of radicalisation of children by Pastor Mackenzie through his church and TV station of which the issue was escalated to the National Government Implementation Committee and the Communications Authority.

‘CUC was advised that the matter had been forwarded to the Cabinet for discussion in the coming weeks. Subsequently, the TV station’s license was revoked by the Communications Authority,’ said the statement.

However, CUC stated that they did not receive feed-back on the proposal to have the church de-registered and the decision by the Cabinet on the issue.

Pastor Mackenzie is facing another criminal case at the Malindi Law Court where he has been jointly charged with Winne Alexander Gandi and Betty Mwaka with the offence of offering Basic Education in Malindi Sub County in an unregistered institution contrary of the Basic Education Act.

In this case the accused entered into a plea bargain with the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) where they were discharged by the trial court and ordered to be of good behaviour.

The Pastor also faces four counts in a criminal case at the Malindi law Court in a case of 2017 for radicalisation, offering basic education in an unregistered institution, failing to take his/her child to compulsory primary and secondary education ,at Furunzi area of Malindi Sub County jointly failed to take his children to school as required by law.

Others charges are failing to provide right to education of a child on diverse dates between 28.08.2017 and 29.09.2017 in Furunzi area of Malindi Sub County jointly with others where he failed to provide his children namely aged 13, 4 and 5 years with their right to education, which is the responsibility of the parents.

At the hearing, Pastor Mackenzie pleaded not guilty, however, the prosecution opposed bail and the court ordered that care and protection files be opened for the children and also a pre bail report be filed.

On 19.10.2017 the court granted the accused conditional cash bail of Sh100, 000 in the alternative bond of Sh500000 with one surety and upon release be reporting to the Officer Commanding Station Malindi each week. The court also ordered that the matter be heard on priority basis as it was a public interest matter.

The matter was heard and determined of which the accused was acquitted on 29.10.2021 under Section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Mackenzie is also facing another criminal case vs State where he is charged with three counts jointly with others for incitement to disobedience of the law on 1.04.2019 in Malindi Township where he was found in possession of cinema topographic films intended to incite children against attending school and incited Christians against Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.

He was also charged for the offence of being in possession and distributing films to the public which had not been examined and classified by Kenya Film Classification Board.

On diverse dates between 01.01.2019 and 11.04.2019 at Good News International Church in Malindi Township jointly with others not before court they were found in possession and exhibition of films to the Public through Times Television which had not been examined and classified by Kenya Films Classification Board.

‘He was also operating a filming studio and producing films without valid filming license from Kenya Films Classification Board for public consumption without first registering as a film agent and acquiring filming license,’ said the statement.

The accused pleaded not guilty and the prosecution objected to bail/bond but the Court declined the application and granted the accused cash bail of Sh500, 000.00 and in the alternative bond of Sh1, 000,000.00 with one surety.

The matter is coming up for defence hearing on June 26, 2023.

Judiciary says that the State made an application in a criminal case in 2017 to hold Pastor Mackenzie and 20 others for 30 days on grounds that they were to carry out investigations for radicalisation of children after they were found with 73 children in a church in what was believed to have been a radicalisation process.

During the hearing of the case, the court ordered age assessment to be done for four of the suspects who were found to be minors and an order for care and protection was issued and allowed the other suspects to be held for a period of seven days for further investigations.

On March 23,this year the State moved to court seeking for orders to hold Pastor Mackenzie for a period of 14 days for being connected to murder of two children who had succumbed to starvation and suffocation at Shakahola and buried in a shallow grave.

The matter was heard and the respondent released on a cash bail of Sh10, 000.00 and ordered to report to the police station as and when required to aid in investigations.

During the hearing, the ODPP filed a Review of the Orders to the High court which was dismissed for lack of merit.

This year on April 17, the State moved to court to seek for orders to allow the chief pathologist exhume remains of 14 unknown bodies buried at Shakahola for post mortem, toxicology in a case where Mackenzie and 13 others have been accused of the offence.

The matter was heard and orders were granted for exhumation, post mortem, toxicology and DNA testing.

The State also sought for orders to hold the 14 respondents for 30 days on April 17 alleging that they were linked to the offences of murder, suicide, manslaughter, conspiracy to kill, criminal recklessness and negligence, abducting in order to confine, accessories to the fact, child cruelty, child neglect, attempted suicide among others.

The matter was heard where the court ordered that seven suspects remain in police custody for a period of 14 days pending completion of investigations while seven others were to remain in police custody for a period of 7 days and the matter of which their mention will be on May 2, 2023.

The State is also seeking for further exhumation orders on the 800 acres of land owned by Pastor Mackenzie at Shakahola together with orders for DNA, postmortem and toxicology tests for any bodies that would be found buried in a court case filed on April 25, 2023.

The application was allowed and further directed that the exhumation is limited to the 800 acres of land at Shakahola as mapped out by the scene of crime experts.

There is also a case in court where 43 children ranging from 1 year to 13 years among them Pastor Mackenzie’s three children who had been rescued from Good News International Church-Mayungu where they had been locked and were not going to school but receiving religious teachings.

This matter was heard on October 18, 2017 and after considering the Children Officer’s report, the court allowed the children who were being held at Mayungu Children Centre (safe space) to be released back to their families after counselling and medical care.

The government has sent a rescue team and deployed security personnel to Shakahola village in Kilifi County to search and rescue operations in a bid to find followers of Pastor Mackenzie those alive and those buried at his farm.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The hearing of lawyer Lazher Akremi, who was arrested on February 13 in the so-called case «conspiracy against state security,» was postponed until May 17, said his defence lawyers’ committee.

“The postponement is due to the unavailability of a means of transportation from the prison to the headquarters of the Judicial Counter-Terrorism Division that meets minimum humanitarian standards,” it said in a statement Friday.

The committee added that Akremi refused to get into the vehicle describing it as “a torture car”. The same decision was made by all detainees implicated in the case of «conspiracy against state security.»

The detainees, last April 6, refused to leave the prison for whatever reason to protest conditions of transport on security vehicles.

The list of political detainees include Chaïma Issa, Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Khayem Turki, Jawhar Ben M’barek, Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ridha Belhadj and Lazher Akremi.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The localisation of posts in Seychelles’ tourism industry, the workforce and training, were some of the points raised in a meeting between the Department of Tourism and hotel general managers on Thursday.

Over the years, there have been many issues raised on the high level of expatriate workers in the tourism industry, the top pillar of the Seychelles economy.

Seychelles’ tourism minister Sylvestre Radegonde, who chaired the meeting, said that localisation of posts is important “as we not only need more Seychellois in hotels but we want to keep them there.”

Radegonde said that “the difference between this meeting and the others held with the owners of smaller establishments is that while the smaller establishments are mainly owned by Seychellois, the general managers here today were mainly non-Seychellois.”

He said that such discussion is vital as they are the ones who employed many workers in the industry.

Staff training and motivation were also discussed and general managers who have international experience will be sharing their expertise with students from the Seychelles Tourism Academy.

The mentorship programme was also raised and the hotel manager of DoubleTree by Hilton – Allamanda Resort and Spa, Doreen De Letourdie, said as a mentor herself she is setting her objectives together with the mentees.

The meeting is part of the minister’s programme to frequently visit tourism establishments with the aim to improve current tourism products as well as introduce new ones.

Radegonde said there are plans to have additional meetings during the year, where “those attending will evaluate the progress made over the last three months.”

Source: Seychelles News Agency

The Seychelles Court of Appeal on Wednesday quashed a decision of the Supreme Court to dismiss a case of the return of Coetivy Island from government property to its former owner, the Delhomme family.

The claim was made by Alain Hoareau, an adopted son of the late Andre Delhomme, one of the former owners of Coetivy Island.

The case pertains to a deal to purchase the island made in 1979 by the government of Seychelles at the time, and the owners, under an acquisition agreement. By deed of sale dated December 13, 1979, the vendors – Andre Delhomme and Madeleine Hery – agreed to sell the government the island at a price of SCR4 million. The government paid an initial SCR 2.5 million and was to pay the rest in five instalments of SCR 300,000 from January 15, 1980, to May 31, the same year but did not honour the transaction contract.

The case was dismissed by Justice Ellen Carolus in May 2021. The ground for the appeal was that Justice Carolus was wrong to find that the appellant’s actions were prescribed under Article 2262 of the Civil Code of Seychelles.

The Article states that “all real actions in respect of rights and ownership of land and other interest therein shall be barred by prescription after 20 years whether the party claiming the benefit of such prescription can produce a title or not and whether such party is in good faith or not.”

According to the court report, the Court of Appeal said that “having considered the record at the appeal with care, we determine that there was only one point for consideration and that is whether or not the learned judge was correct in law to raise the 20-year extinctive prescription.”

It added that the Seychelles Civil Code distinguishes between real actions and personal actions. The general rule for personal actions is that they are barred by extinctive prescription of five years after the cause of action arose.

Therefore, the question of whether the judge was correct to conclude in her judgement that the appellant’s action is a real action and not a personal action and whether or not the action is time-barred does not arise for consideration.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal on ground 16 which stated that the judge erred when she held that the appellant’s action is prescribed and time-barred in law.

“The decision of Justice Carolus was hence quashed and the case remitted to the Supreme Court to deal with the action on merits only,” said the report.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Frank Elisabeth, told SNA that the government raised the point of prescription before the Supreme Court saying that five years had elapsed since the sale occurred in 1979 therefore the court cannot listen to this case.

Elisabeth said that the Court of Appeal has taken a stance in their favour that in this case, the five years prescription does not apply.

“The fact remains that we will have to go back before the same judge for this case to be heard on its merit, with the only issue to be decided is will the island be returned to the owner or remain in the hands of the government?” explained Elisabeth.

Meanwhile, Coetivy Island is being used for prawn farming by the Islands Development Company, a state-owned enterprise.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Angolan minister of Justice and Human Rights Marcy Lopes Friday in Lobito, coastal Benguela province, said that the printing of identity cards continues to be done in Luanda for security reasons.

Until 2020, the Identity Card used to be produced locally (Benguela) and picked up by users a few minutes after completing the procedures, a situation that has changed.

Speaking to the press, at the end of a visit to the Civil and Criminal Registry Building, in Benguela province, Marcy Lopes said that there was a change in the schedule.

“The Identity Card confers citizenship and nationality on citizens and its issuance must be carried out in compliance with a security procedure. It is for this reason that this change was made, but we are working to improve the conditions of access to IDs to all people,” he assured.

Previously, he said, there was a need to collect the BI by activating the fingerprint, but now it can be done without additional procedure.

The Civil and Criminal Registry building in Lobito was built in 2013.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)