Kenya Cult Crime: Some of the followers including kids were killed, autopsy reports find
According to the nation's Interior Ministry, more than 460 people have so far been reported missing, raising the potential that there are many more bodies in the forest
Detectives escort Ezekiel Ombok Odero, the Head of New Life Prayer Centre/Church in Kilifi County, at the police headquarters for investigations into the Shakahola killings linked to pastor Paul Mackenzie, in Mombasa, Kenya April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Autopsies have suggested that some of the victims who reportedly starved themselves in a bid to follow the Kenyan cult leader were allegedly killed.
The information became public after investigators submitted autopsy reports of the deceased persons in court at the time cult leader in question was also brought in for trial.
At least two children’s remains, according to a government pathologist, showed evidence of suffocation, indicating they weren’t just starved to death like many of the other victims, he claimed on Tuesday.
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According to officials involved in the exhumation, 110 bodies have so far been retrieved from the tombs in eastern Kenya.
According to the Associated Press, a court ordered on Tuesday that the church’s leader, Paul Mackenzie, remain in custody until Friday.
Also Read: Police find 26 more bodies connected to Kenyan cult under investigation
Mackenzie had been released on bond by one court last week before being re-arrested.
He has been sent to a court in Shanzu, close to the port city of Mombasa, on terrorism charges and accused of urging members of his Good News International Church to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus.
According to the nation’s Interior Ministry, more than 460 people have so far been reported missing, raising the potential that there are many more bodies in the forest.
The government also said that efforts to exhume dead at the isolated 800-acre site in a jungle to the north of Mombasa had to be put on hold because to inclement weather. It said that the search for survivors was being conducted using aircraft and drones.
Former member Titus Katana, who managed to flee the organization, said, “The youngest victims were the kids. Then, after the kids, they turned to the singles. The mothers and the elderly were next in queue after that, he continued.
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