MOMBASA, Kenya: A Kenyan cult leader accused of inciting and possibly forcing his followers to starve themselves to death appeared in court Friday in connection with the deaths of more than 100 people found buried in mass graves.
The deeply religious Christian-majority country has been stunned by the discovery of the graves last month near the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi, in what has been dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre.”
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who is due to face terrorism charges for allegedly urging followers to starve to death “to meet Jesus,” appeared in the dock in Kenya’s second-largest city of Mombasa.
Mackenzie, dressed in a pink and black jacket and brown trousers and accompanied by his wife and child, was brought in by about a dozen police officers along with 17 other defendants.
According to investigators, the other suspects are accused of operating an armed “enforcer gang” tasked with ensuring that no one broke their fast or left their forest hideout alive.
Autopsies carried out on 100 bodies have found that while starvation appeared to be the main cause of death, some of the victims — including children — were strangled, beaten, or suffocated.
Prosecutors are asking to hold Mackenzie, who founded the Good News International Church in 2003, for another 90 days until investigations are completed.
Ezekiel Odero, a wealthy and high-profile televangelist, was also arrested in Malindi last week in connection with the same case, and was granted bail at a court hearing on Thursday. –Agencies
