Kenya starvation cult leader charged with manslaughter over mass deaths
A Kenyan court has charged cult leader cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 94 suspected accomplices with manslaughter over the deaths of more than 200 people.
Issued on:
Mackenzie and his co-accused – including the self-proclaimed pastor's wife – pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday in the court in Mombasa.
The 238 counts of manslaughter come after the group was charged with terrorism last week.
A judge last week ordered Mackenzie and dozens of others to undergo mental health tests to determine if they are fit to stand trial for murder at another court in the coastal town of Malindi.
Mass graves
In one of the world's worst cult-related tragedies in recent history, 429 bodies – including those of children – were uncovered during months of exhumations across tens of thousands of acres of the remote Shakahola forest.
Most showed signs of starvation, but autopsies showed some victims appeared to have been strangled, beaten or suffocated.
Mackenzie is accused of encouraging members of his Good News International Church to move to the coastal forest and starve to death in order to "meet Jesus".
- Kenya's Ruto vows action as religious cult death toll continues to rise
- European rights court orders France to pay four million euros to sects
He was arrested last April after bodies were discovered in the forest near the Indian Ocean.
The 238 victims mentioned in Tuesday’s hearing were killed between January 2021 and September 2023, court documents said.
A largely Christian nation, Kenya has struggled to regulate unscrupulous churches and cults that dabble in criminality.
The grisly case, dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”, led the government to flag the need for tighter control of fringe denominations.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe