On Monday, July 17, officers investigating the Kenyan Christian doomsday cult deaths mentioned that the dying toll had crossed 400 as 12 extra our bodies have been exhumed on Monday in Shakahola. Coastal Regional Commissioner, Rhonda Onyancha mentioned that the dying toll has reached 403 including that the exhumation course of continues.
Onyancha additionally mentioned that 95 folks have been rescued.
BREAKING: Kenya fasting cult dying toll has formally risen to over 400, with a whole lot nonetheless lacking.
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) July 17, 2023
According to the authorities, a lot of the deceased have been adherents of the preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, the founding father of the Good News International Church. The accused pastor and 36 different suspects are presently in police custody.
More than 610 persons are nonetheless reported to be lacking from villages across the forest. DNA matching had been carried out on 253 of the 403 our bodies exhumed to date.
Mackenzie relocated to the forested space in Malindi in 2019 after his church was closed as a result of his preaching, which included encouraging kids to not attend faculty. Earlier, he was arrested and launched on bond in reference to the disappearance of kids.
A judicial panel of investigation established by Kenyan President William Ruto to find out what occurred and who was accountable was overturned by a court docket determination after opposition chief Raila Odinga appealed towards it.
The president referred to as what occurred in Malindi “terrorism” and vowed to take down “those using religion to advance their heinous acts.”
The believers of the Christian doomsday cult have been informed that they’d attain heaven sooner and meet Jesus Christ in the event that they starved to dying. Official autopsies on some of the our bodies within the huge Shakahola farm positioned contained in the forest discovered proof of malnutrition, suffocation, and beatings. The findings have been confirmed by chief authorities pathologist Johansen Oduor. However, a lot of the victims appeared to have died of hunger.
The Christian pastor, in his protection claimed that he had performed nothing mistaken and that his Church shut down in 2019. As per reviews, Nthenge recited the names of three villages (Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Judea) earlier than baptizing folks in ponds and asking them to starve to dying.