Doomsday cult leader, 30 others face charges of murdering 191 children
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A doomsday cult leader and 30 of his followers have been presented in a Kenyan court to face charges of murdering 191 children.
Kenya’s top prosecutor on Tuesday ordered that 95 people from a doomsday cult be charged with murder, cruelty, child torture and other crimes in the deaths of 429 people believed to be members of the church.
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The remains of 180 of the 191 dead children have not been identified.
Leader Paul Mackenzie and the other suspects did not enter pleas because the judge granted a request from prosecutors that they undergo mental assessments and return to court on Feb. 6.
The country’s director of public prosecutions, Mulele Ingonga, was responding to pressure from a magistrate in the coastal county of Kilifi who told the prosecution to charge the suspects within two weeks or the court would release them.
For months since the arrests last April, prosecutors had asked the court for permission to keep holding church leader Paul Mackenzie and 28 others while they looked into the case that shocked Kenyans with the discovery of mass graves and allegations of starvation and strangulation.
FILE – Body bags are laid out at the scene where dozens of bodies have been found in shallow graves in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya on April 24, 2023. Kenya’s top prosecutor on Tuesday ordered that 95 people from a doomsday cult be charged with murder, cruelty, child torture and other crimes in the deaths of 429 people believed to be members of the church. (AP Photo, File) FILE – An exhumed body of a victim of a religious cult is laid out in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya Sunday, April 23, 2023. Kenya’s top prosecutor on Tuesday ordered that 95 people from a doomsday cult be charged with murder, cruelty, child torture and other crimes in the deaths of 429 people believed to be members of the church. (AP Photo, File) FILE – Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who was arrested on suspicion of telling his followers to fast to death in order to meet Jesus, accompanied by some of his followers, appears at a court in Malindi, Kenya on Monday, April 17, 2023. Kenya’s top prosecutor on Tuesday ordered that 95 people from a doomsday cult be charged with murder, cruelty, child torture and other crimes in the deaths of 429 people believed to be members of the church. (AP Photo, File) Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who was arrested on suspicion of telling his followers to fast to death in order to meet Jesus, accompanied by some of his followers, appears at a court in Malindi, Kenya on Wednesday, April 17, 2023. High Court judge Mugure Thande ordered that the accused undergo a mental assessment and return to court on Feb 6. (AP Photo/Gideon Maundu)
Principal Magistrate Yousuf Shikanda declined the latest request to hold the suspects for an additional 60 days, saying the prosecution had been given enough time to complete investigations.
The case emerged when police rescued 15 emaciated parishioners from Mackenzie’s church in Kilifi county in Kenya’s southeast. Four died after the group was taken to a hospital. Mackenzie and some of his followers have been blamed for the deaths of 429 members of his Good News International Church.
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Survivors told investigators the pastor had instructed them to fast to death before the world ends so they could meet Jesus.
A search of the remote, forested area found dozens of mass graves, authorities have said. Autopsies on some bodies showed starvation, strangulation or suffocation.
Other charges that the suspects will face include manslaughter, radicalization, assault causing grievous bodily harm and engaging in organized criminal activity.
Mackenzie is serving a separate one-year prison sentence after being found guilty of operating a film studio and producing films without a valid license.
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