People suspected of being members of a Christian sect who fasted to death in a southern Kenyan forest to meet Jesus Christ have risen to 235 after authorities found more bodies, police reported.
The regional commissioner of the Kenyan Coastal Police, Rhoda Onyancha, also revealed that four people were rescued alive (three women, one of them in critical condition, and one man), which puts the number of rescues at 89.
“So far, 613 people have been reported missing by their relatives.“, Onyancha specified, adding that the number of detainees is still 31. The police officer also pointed out that the Government has suspended the exhumation exercise to prepare the autopsies that will begin on May 24.
3 “apocalyptic” sects that led their members to mass suicide https://t.co/8EMQn58B0X
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“The forensic team will take a break starting tomorrow to prepare the autopsy of the 123 bodies exhumed in the second phase of the operation,” Onyancha added.
Almost all the deaths of the so-called “Shakahola massacre” -what is the name of the forest in which the tragedy happened– have been exhumed from graves and mass graves found in that place, with the exception of a few who died in hospital due to their serious condition.
The autopsies of more than a hundred bodies showed that, although all showed signs of starvation, the corpses of at least three children and one adult also had signs of strangulation and suffocation. Likewise, the first investigations by the Police suggest that the faithful were forced to continue fasting, even if they wanted to abandon it.
Last week, the Shanzu Court, in the coastal city of Mombasa, ordered an extension for 30 days (starting the count on May 3) the detention of the sect leader who allegedly persuaded the victims to fast, Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, along with his wife and 16 other suspects.
On May 2, Nthenge and the other detainees were released by the Court of the tourist coastal city of Malindi, after the Prosecutor’s Office expressed its intention to file terrorism charges against them, something for which that Court declared itself. incompetent. However, the pastor and his henchmen were arrested minutes later and transferred to the Shanzu Court, some 120 kilometers away, where the Police requested -unsuccessfully- authorization to keep them detained for 90 more days.
Kenyan President William Ruto apologized on 14 May on behalf of his government for failing to prevent the deaths.
Nthenge, in police custody since April 14, leads the Good News International Church (International Church of Good News). An ecstasy driver, the pastor was already arrested last March after being accused of the death of two children in similar circumstances, but he was released on bail.
Keep reading:
• Kenya: deaths of starvation in a religious cult reach 201
• They accuse of terrorism the leader of the sect in Kenya that incited the death of 110 faithful
• 3 “apocalyptic” cults that led their members to mass suicides