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Paul Mackenzie, the alleged leader of the cult, was arrested following a report that also suggested the existence of shallow graves belonging to his followers.
UK Sunday 23 April 2023 05:55
More than 20 bodies have reportedly been exhumed as part of an investigation into a hunger cult in Kenya.
On Friday, police began exhuming remains from more than a dozen suspected graves in the east of the country believed to hold the remains of followers of a fringe Christian sect who believed they would go to heaven if they starved to death.
On Thursday, homicide detectives used sticks and yellow tape to mark out patches of land in the Shaka Hora Forest in Kilifi County, near where police rescued 15 members of the Good News International Church last week, according to footage aired on Citizen TV. member’s location.
Detective Charles Kamau of the nearby town of Malindi said police began exhuming the bodies on Friday.
Paul Mackenzie, the alleged leader of the church, was arrested after receiving a report that also suggested that at least 31 of his followers had shallow graves.
MacKenzie denies any wrongdoing.
The 15 rescued worshipers were told to starve themselves so they could meet their Creator, police said.
Four of them died before being taken to hospital.
Former church member Titus Katana helped police identify the grave.
“We have shown the grave to the police and, in addition, we have saved the life of a woman who had only a few hours left before she would have died too,” Mr Katana told Citizen TV.
Matthew Shipeta of the human rights group Haki Africa said he saw at least 15 shallow graves in the forest.
Helen Mikali, the manager of a children’s home helping investigators, said she visited several nearby villages where parents and children went missing.
“Personally, I’ve visited about 18 children’s graves,” Ms Micali told Citizen TV. She did not say how she knew there were children’s remains in the grave.
Police arrested and later released Mackenzie last month for encouraging the parents of the two boys to starve and suffocate their children.
During his court appearance in that case, MacKenzie said he had no knowledge of the events that led to the deaths of the two boys, claiming he was the target of hostile propaganda by some of his former colleagues, The Kenyan Standard newspaper coverage.
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