Police believe most of the bodies found near the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi are members of the sect of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a former taxi driver and self-proclaimed “pastor” of the International Church of Good News.
The death toll from the “Shakahola massacre” in a forest in south-east Kenya, where a cult whose leader advocated fasting to “encounter Jesus” met, has now reached 201 after 22 new bodies were discovered on Saturday , announced the prefect of the country Region.
Police believe most of the bodies found near the seaside town of Malindi are members of the sect of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a former taxi driver and self-proclaimed “pastor” of the International Church of the Good News (Good News International Church). he founded.
About fifty mass graves
The region’s prefect Rhoda Onyancha said 26 people have been arrested so far, including Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and a “gang of thugs” tasked with making sure no devotee broke their fast or fled the forest. Paul Mackenzie turned himself in to authorities on April 14 after police discovered the first victims in Shakahola Forest. Since then, about fifty mass graves have been discovered.
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Investigators will halt exhumations for the next two days to reorganize their operations, which are expected to resume on Tuesday, Onyancha added. Autopsies performed on the first bodies indicate that most of the victims died of starvation, probably after following the sermons of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie.
The debate over the supervision of the service was revived
However, some of the victims, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated, forensic chief Johansen Oduor said recently. This massacre has reignited debate over church surveillance in Kenya, a predominantly Christian country with 4,000 “churches,” according to officials. President William Ruto has established a task force to “review the legal and regulatory framework for religious organizations.”