The leader of a religious group in Kenya and 29 of his colleagues have been accused of killing 121 children
The leader of a religious organization in Kenya called Good News International, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his 29 assistants have been officially accused of being involved in the murder of 191 children whose bodies were found among hundreds of people buried in the Shakahola forest.
However, Mackenzie and all his colleagues denied the charges presented before the court in Malindi last Tuesday. One defendant has been found to be mentally incompetent to answer the charges and has been ordered to be brought back to the Malindi High Court after one month. Prosecutors said Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so they could go to heaven before the world ends, in one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history. Dead bodies being exhumed in the Shakahola forest Paul Mackenzie, who is a former taxi driver who called himself a pastor, has already been charged with "terrorism", manslaughter as well as torturing children and cruelty. He was arrested in April last year after bodies were found in Shakahola forest. Autopsies showed that most of the 429 victims died of starvation. But others, including children, appeared to have been strangled, beaten, or suffocated. The case, named "Massacre of the Shakahola Forest", led the Kenyan government to pay special attention to the issue of strict control of the activities of different religious sects. Being a predominantly Christian nation, Kenya has struggled to control churches and unethical institutions that are involved in crime.
