Kenya: More Bodies Unearthed in Shakahola Forest Exhumations
Chinomso Sunday
Police and local residents load the exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult into the back of a truck in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southeastern Kenya Sunday, April 23, 2023. Dozens of bodies have been discovered so far in shallow graves in a forest near land owned by a pastor Paul Makenzi in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death. (AP Photo)
Reports say seven fresh bodies were exhumed in the Shakahola forest in Kenya on Monday. The exercise is a continuation of exhumations from a Kenyan forest where hundreds of victims of a cult were found buried last year. The total number of bodies now stands at 436 out of which 34 have been identified.
The first set of bodies which were discovered in April 2023 in the Shakahola forest, led to the arrest of Pastor Paul Mackenzie who allegedly led his followers to starve themselves to death “in order to meet Jesus”.
(FILES) Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who set up the Good News International Church in 2003 and is accused of inciting cult followers to starve to death “to meet Jesus”, appears in the dock at the court in Malindi on May 2, 2023. (Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP)
Mackenzie has been charged with 191 counts of murder, manslaughter, terrorism, child torture and cruelty of which he has pled not guilty.
A Mombasa court has today directed Shakahola massacre prime suspect Pastor Paul Mackenzie and 38 others be served with witness statements and exhibits in their children cruelty and torture case.
The court's directive comes despite the accused lawyer Wycliffe Makasembo failing… pic.twitter.com/zlrM9oQvGi
— Office of The Director Of Public Prosecutions (@ODPP_KE) April 23, 2024
