Major update in Kenya cult deaths after doomsday clan ‘starved themselves’ so they could ‘meet Jesus Christ’
MORE than 300 bodies have been discovered in a Kenyan forest after a doomsday cult starved themselves to death to “meet Jesus Christ” in April.
Cops say the butchered and buried remains belong to followers of Paul Mackenzie, a taxi driver-turned-preacher, who stands accused of ordering the massacre.
The bodies, first discovered on April 13, continue to be found in the forest 50 miles north of the the Indian Ocean town of Malindi in Kenya.
“The death toll has now risen to 303 after the 19 bodies were exhumed,” regional commissioner Rhoda Onyancha said.
The toll remains provisional, and the authorities in the East African country fear the true number of dead could be much higher as over 600 people have been reported as missing.
Mackenzie is due to face charges of “terrorism” in the case which has rocked the east African nation.
The search for mass graves is still under way in the Shakahola forest, where the first victims — some dead, others alive but weakened and emaciated — were discovered in mid-April.
Since then, the series of grim discoveries has revealed a macabre scandal, dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”.
Investigations have been extended beyond the original 325 hectares to cover almost 15,000 hectares.
Police believe that most of the bodies exhumed were those of followers of an evangelical sect founded in 2003 by the self-proclaimed “pastor” Mackenzie, who advocated fasting until death to enter heaven.
The 50-year-old founder of the Good News International Church turned himself in on April 14 after police acting on a tip-off first entered Shakahola forest.
While starvation appears to be the main cause of death, some of the victims — including children — were strangled, beaten or suffocated, according to investigators.
In May, corpses were found with organs missing, which raised fears that the Kenyan death cult was harvesting them for sale.
Survivors of the horrific ideal also exposed how children were made to go first and some were buried alive.
Titus Katana, an ex-member and deputy pastor told The Times that the children were ordered to starve themselves first.
He said: “They were shut in huts for five days without food or water. Then they wrapped them in blankets and buried them, even the ones still breathing.”
After that the female followers of the cult would be next, then the men with the pastor and his family due to kill themselves last.
Another former cult member Stephen Mwiti’s children and wife Joan are among those missing and he has been desperately searching for their bodies.
The 45-year-old said his wife was pregnant when she left home with the children several months ago and gave birth to another son in the forest.
“Some survivors told me that my wife was allowed to breastfeed him for one day only,” he said.
“After that they closed his eyes, a hand was placed over his mouth and nose, he was suffocated.
“Everyone clapped and celebrated. The son I never met was going straight to heaven.”
Mwiti has said he once attempted to rescue his wife and children from the forest, where he saw them living with Mackenzie and about 50 other women along with their children.
“We tried calling out and nobody was responding to our calls,” he said.
Questions have been raised about how Mackenzie, a father of seven, managed to evade law enforcement despite a history of extremism and previous legal cases.
The horrific saga has stunned Kenyans and led President William Ruto to set up a commission of inquiry into the deaths and a task force to review regulations governing religious bodies.
Another pastor accused of links to Mackenzie and to the bodies found in the forest was released on bail at a court hearing.
Ezekiel Odero, a high-profile and wealthy televangelist, is being investigated on a raft of charges including murder, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalisation, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud and money laundering.
In all, at least 35 people suspected of involvement have been arrested, according to police who say 95 of the church’s followers have been recovered alive since the start of operations.
On Monday, 65 of them were brought before a court in the city of Mombasa to face charges of “attempted suicide”, because they refused to eat or drink.
Prosecutors have asked that they be detained, so that they can be examined and forced to eat.
A court decision is expected on Thursday.
The death cult case has rekindled debate on the regulation of religious worship in this predominantly Christian country, which has 4,000 “churches”, according to official figures.
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki announced that Shakahola forest will be turned into a “place of remembrance… so that Kenyans and the world will not forget what happened”.