The 191 youngsters have been among the many 425 victims discovered within the Shakahola forest in coastal Kenya final 12 months.
Kenyan cult chief Paul NthengeMackenzie and 29 associates have been on Tuesday charged with the homicide of 191 youngsters whose our bodies have been discovered amongst a whole lot of individuals buried in a forest.
The defendants all denied the costs introduced earlier than a court docket within the coastal city of Malindi close to the Indian Ocean. One suspect was discovered mentally unfit to face trial and has been ordered to return to the Malindi Excessive Courtroom in a month.
Prosecutors mentioned Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves and their youngsters to dying in order that they may go to heaven earlier than the world ended, in one of many world’s worst cult-related disasters in latest historical past.
The previous taxi driver turned self-proclaimed pastor has already been charged with “terrorism”, manslaughter in addition to little one torture and cruelty. He was arrested in April final 12 months after our bodies have been discovered within the Shakahola forest.
Autopsies revealed that almost all of the 429 victims had died of starvation. However others, together with youngsters, appeared to have been strangled, crushed, or suffocated.
The case, dubbed the “Shakahola forest bloodbath”, led the federal government to flag the necessity for tighter management of fringe denominations.
A largely Christian nation, Kenya has struggled to control unscrupulous church buildings and cults that dabble in criminality.