Paul Mackenziea man accused of leading a cult that led to the deaths of more than 400 people in Kenya, was today accused of 191 homicide crimesadvances AFP.
It should be noted that a Kenyan court this Tuesday added charges of murder to those of terrorism, torture and cruelty against children, as well as “premeditated homicide” against pastor Paul Mackenzie, following the death of 429 followers of his evangelical group.
According to AFP, the pastor and 29 other defendants declared themselves innocent when appearing before a court in the city of Malindi, ten months after the revelation of this case that shocked Kenya.
The former taxi driver, who became a pastor, has been in pre-trial detention since April 14, 2023, one day after the discovery of the first victims in the Shakahola forest (southeast Kenya) where the International Church of Good News is located, which Paul Nthenge Mackenzie founded it in 2010.
The defendant advocated that his followers fast to death to “find Jesus” before the end of the world.
Research carried out in Shakahola, a vast bush area on the Kenyan coast, led to the exhumation of 429 bodies, some that had been buried for several years.
Autopsies revealed that most of the victims died of starvation. Some, including children, have been strangled, beaten or suffocated.
The revelation of this scandal, called the “Shakahola massacre”, put the Kenyan authorities under fire for failing to prevent the actions of the pastor, who, however, was arrested several times for his extreme preaching.
In a report published in October 2023, a senatorial commission pointed out “failures” in the justice system and the police in 2017 and 2019.
In July of the same year, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki considered the Shakahola massacre “the worst security breach in the history” of Kenya.
Read Also: Kenyan sect pastor will also be tried for “murders”
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2496691/massacre-lider-de-culto-no-quenia-acusado-de-191-crimes-de-homicidio
