Religion

Kenya accuses sect leader who led hundreds to fast to death of involuntary manslaughter

Nairobi, Jan 23 (EFE) – Kenyan prosecutors on Tuesday charged self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie with 238 counts of involuntary manslaughter for inciting his acolytes to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus.”

In a court in the coastal city of Mombasa, the prosecution took more than four hours to read out, one by one, the counts against Mackenzie and 94 other co-defendants that included his wife, local media reported.

The suspects appeared before Mombasa magistrate Alex Ithuku and pleaded not guilty.

Kenyan prosecutors said that they intend to charge Mackenzie and others with terrorism, torture, and assaults on children, among other crimes.

The cult leader is allegedly responsible for what is known as the “Shakahola massacre,” after the name of the forest near the Indian Ocean coast where most of the 430 or so bodies of his followers, many of them children, were found in mass and individual graves in mid-2023.

The religious leader allegedly convinced his church followers to fast until they died, subsequent autopsies showed that most of the deaths were from starvation, but some bodies also had signs of strangulation and asphyxiation.

Thus, police investigations suggest that the worshippers were forced to continue to fast even if they wanted to stop.

Kenyan authorities arrested Mackenzie on April 14, 2023. EFE

pm/ics/mcd

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