Kenyan authorities charged a self-proclaimed pastor Tuesday with manslaughter over the starvation and deaths of hundreds of followers after finding the dead bodies in a forest near the Indian Ocean, according to several reports.
Paul Mackenzie, his wife Rhoda Maweu, and 93 co-defendants were charged in the Mombasa Law Courts with 238 counts of manslaughter, one for each of 238 adult bodies exhumed by authorities from Shakahola Forest after the adults fasted to death at Mackenzie and his associates’ behest between January 2021 and September 2023, The Star reported.
Mackenzie and his co-accused reportedly listened to the 479-page charge sheet containing 238 charges which three clerks took turns to read for four and a half hours. Mackenzie and the other suspects reportedly struggled to stay awake in the humid heat during the reading, drawing Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku to intervene. All 95 suspects reportedly pleaded not guilty in unison to save time and were remanded in jail.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie (C) walks surrounded by Kenya Police Officers and other defendants as he appears at the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa on January 18, 2024. A Kenyan court on January 18, 2024 charged the leader of a starvation cult with terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers. Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus” in a case that shocked the world. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie (R) sits along with other accomplices at the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa on January 18, 2024. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)
Only 23 of the 238 casualties have been identified, the outlet noted.
Cult leader Paul Mackenzie and his followers arrive at Mombasa Law Court to face manslaughter charges. pic.twitter.com/U5DmcBphSR
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) January 23, 2024
All 95 accused persons reportedly had also been charged with the murder of 191 children, whose bodies authorities also exhumed from Shakahola Forest, the report noted. All the accused denied the charges. Only 11 of the children have been identified in the ongoing identification process.
Family members and friends await news of loved ones in Shakahola forest, where 90 bodies have been exhumed so far at the morgue of Malindi Sub-County Hospital in Malindi on April 26, 2023. – Weeping relatives on Wednesday awaited news of loved ones linked to a suspected starvation cult in Kenya as police resumed the search for victims after unearthing dozens of bodies since last week. The discovery of mass graves in Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi has shocked Kenyans, with cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge accused of driving his followers to death by preaching that starvation was the only path to God. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)
The accused reportedly were also previously charged with terrorism over the deaths, which they denied. (RELATED: Authorities Release Video Of Rescued Sisters Hidden In Barrels By Cult Leader)
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A Kenyan judge ordered cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 30 associates to undergo mental health evaluations before being charged with the murder of 191 children whose bodies have been exhumed since last April from the Shakahola forest https://t.co/C5LL7lZVq2 pic.twitter.com/Km08k8z1Mh— Reuters (@Reuters) January 17, 2024
Mackenzie and 30 other co-defendants had undergone pre-trial psychological evaluation before hearing their murder and terror charges, according to The Daily Nation. Their attorney, Wyclif Makasembo, reportedly argued for the duration of the evaluation to be halved to seven days. A suspect had become paralyzed in jail and some other suspects had died in jail, where they had been held for the past six months, Makasembo reportedly argued, asking for them to be bonded out and returned to their families. “They are tired,” he reportedly said.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie (2nd L), who set up the Good News International Church in 2003 and is accused of inciting cult followers to starve to death “to meet Jesus”, appears in the dock with other co-accused at the court in Malindi on May 2, 2023. (Photo by SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images)
Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023 after the discovery of the bodies in the forest, NTV reported. Kenya reportedly has struggled to rein in unscrupulous religious denominations and the Shakahola Forest massacre has led the government to consider tightening control of fringe denominations.