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23-04-2023
NAIROBI: Kenyan police have exhumed human remains from more than a dozen suspected graves in the east of the country amid an investigation into followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death.
Police began exhuming bodies on Friday, said Charles Kamau, a detective in the town of Malindi near the Shakahola forest in Kilifi County, where police rescued 15 members of the Good News International Church last week, according to footage broadcast by Citizen TV.
Unnamed police sources told media on Saturday that 21 bodies had been found so far and that more could yet be uncovered.
“In total since yesterday, we have 21 bodies,” a police source told media on condition of anonymity, referring to exhumations in the Shakahola forest outside the coastal town of Malindi.
“We have not even scratched the surface which gives a clear indication that we are likely to get more bodies by the end of this exercise,” the source added. A second police source confirmed the same toll, also on condition of anonymity, media reported.
Kenya’s NTV channel reported on Saturday that seven bodies had been removed from two of 32 suspected gravesites marked out by police.
The leader of the church, Paul Mackenzie, also identified in reports as Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, was arrested, the Reuters news agency reported. Mackenzie’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. NTV reported that Mckenzie has staged a hunger strike in his cell since his arrest last week.
Police said the 15 rescued worshippers had been told to starve themselves to death so they could meet their creator. Four of them died before they reached hospital. (Int’l News Desk)
