Kenya’s police chief said on Monday that police have recovered 58 bodies, most of them from mass graves in a forest in the east of the country, believed to belong to followers of a Christian sect who believed they would go to heaven if they starved.
The Kenya Red Cross said that an office it set up in a local hospital to search for and advise missing persons had been informed of the missing 112 people.
Adherents of a denomination that calls itself the International Church of Good News live in isolated communities on an 800-acre site in the Chakahola Forest.
Inspector General of Kenyan Police Japhet Kumi, who visited the scene, said that among the dead were 50 people who were found in mass graves, in addition to 8 others who were found alive but in poor condition and later died.
He stated that 29 people have been rescued and the police are still searching for other possible survivors, according to Reuters.
“Forensic investigators, homicide department and other police officers as well as some government pathology specialists are here with us to conduct investigations and exhumations,” he added in remarks broadcast on Kenyan television.
Cult leader Paul Mackenzie was arrested on April 14 after a tip-off indicated surface graves containing the bodies of at least 31 of his followers.
Comey said police were holding 14 other members of the cult.
McKenzie was brought to trial on April 15 before the Malindi Law Courts and the judge gave the police 14 days to conduct investigations while remaining in custody.
Kenyan media reported that he was refusing to take food and water.
Reuters was not able to reach any lawyer or representative for McKinsey.
Kenyan President William Ruto said Mackenzie’s teachings were incompatible with any religion.
“Mr. McKenzie … pretends to be a priest when in fact he is a hideous criminal,” he said in a speech at an unrelated public event outside Nairobi.
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2023-04-24 14:00:16
