2024-02-06 14:23:40
A court in Kenya has charged the head of a fasting sect and several other suspects with 191 counts of murder. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 29 other defendants pleaded not guilty Tuesday, court documents showed. Mackenzie has already been charged with terrorism, manslaughter and the torture and abuse of children.
Another suspect was deemed unfit to stand trial and ordered to return to court in the coastal town of Malindi in a month.
More than 4000 churches registered
Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023 after hundreds of bodies were discovered in Shakahola Forest. Autopsies revealed that the majority of the 429 victims had starved to death. Others, including children, appeared to have been strangled, beaten or suffocated. The case became known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre” and prompted the government to announce stricter sectarian laws.
There are more than 4,000 registered churches in Kenya and there are also self-proclaimed priests and alleged religious communities founded by criminals.
The mass grave in Shakahola, outside the coastal town of Malindi: The sect starved hundreds of people to death. : Image: AFP
Court documents describe the International Priesthoods of Good News founded by Mackenzie as an “organized criminal group.”
The case raised the question of how Mackenzie was able to avoid prosecution for so long. A Senate committee found in October that the father of seven had already been charged in 2017 for his extreme teachings but not convicted.
Published/Updated:
Mackenzie was not stopped by an investigation initiated in 2019 into the deaths of two children who apparently had to go hungry and then suffocated. He was released on bail pending the start of a trial.
#Cult #leader #Mackenzie #charged #counts #murder