Kenyan cult leader to remain in prison after more than 100 followers die
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[May 03, 2023]
NAIROBI (Reuters) -A Kenyan cult leader accused of
ordering his followers to starve themselves to death will be detained by
police until a hearing on Friday, a court ruled on Tuesday as
investigators searched for more bodies in a forest where 101 corpses
have already been unearthed.
Kenyan authorities say the dead were members of the Good News
International Church led by Paul Mackenzie, 50, who had predicted the
world would end on April 15 and ordered his followers to kill themselves
to be the first to go to heaven.
The death toll stands at a total of 109 so far, with 101, mostly
children, found in mass graves and eight people found alive who later
died - but could rise further. The interior ministry said more than 400
people are missing in the surrounding area.
Mackenzie, who is in police custody, has not commented publicly on the
accusations against him nor been required to enter a plea to any
criminal charge. Two lawyers acting for him have declined to comment.
An investigator involved in the case, who did not wish to be identified,
told Reuters that Mackenzie has denied ordering his followers to fast.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
Mackenzie and 17 other accused were initially presented before a
magistrate's court in the tourist town of Malindi but the case was
transferred to a court in the port city of Mombasa, where state
prosecutions asked the court to detain all the accused for 90 days to
allow for investigations.
Prior to his case being moved to the court in Mombasa, Citizen
Television showed Mackenzie appearing in court in Malindi, about an hour
and a half away by car from the Shakahola forest where the mass graves
have been found.
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![](../images/050323PIX/news_t6.jpg)
Paul Mackenzie, 50, a Kenyan cult leader
accused of ordering his followers of the members of the Good News
International Church to starve themselves to death in Shakahola
forest, appears at Malindi Law Courts, in Malindi, Kenya, May 2,
2023. REUTERS/Stringer
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/03/images/ads/current/longview_lda_SFARM_2023.png)
He was wearing a pink shirt and jacket, standing alongside eight
other cult members.
Police took Mackenzie to his now closed church compound in the
Furunzi area of Malindi town on Monday to conduct a search of the
premises ordered by the court, one of his lawyers, Elisha Komora,
told Reuters.
Angry residents gathered and started throwing stones at the compound
protected by a high wall and barbed wire on top. They later
destroyed the front part of the wall, Komora said, adding that
police had to fire teargas to disperse them.
Mackenzie faces a number of charges relating to earlier alleged
offences, but prosecutors have yet to issue a charge sheet in
relation to the mass graves.
Mackenzie had previously been arrested on several occasions dating
back to 2017, in connection with a range of offences including child
neglect and radicalisation, the Kenyan judiciary has said. He was
acquitted of some charges while others were either dropped or not
pursued, it said, for reasons that were not explained.
The government's chief pathologist said on Monday that so far 10
autopsies had taken place, on the bodies of one adult and nine
children. Most showed signs of starvation, while two children showed
signs of asphyxiation, he said.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa, Humphrey Malalo, Duncan Miriri, and
Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Angus MacSwan, James Macharia Chege and
Sandra Maler)
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