Kenyan families weep for starvation cult victims as first bodies released
Malindi, Kenya Reuters Bereaved relatives emerged weeping from a hospital mortuary in Kenya on Tuesday after recovering the remains of loved ones whose doomsday cult leader induced them to starve themselves, according to the authorities. The bodies of more than 400 followers of the Good News International Church have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest […]
The suspects in a Kenyan doomsday cult are ordered to be hospitalised after a hunger strike
Nairobi, Kenya AP A Kenyan magistrate Tuesday ordered the main suspect in a doomsday starvation cult and 94 of his followers to receive emergency care after some of the suspects had to be carried into the courtroom to answer manslaughter charges, too frail and weak to “even open their eyes” after an apparent hunger strike […]
Kenyan court rules pastor accused of starving his congregation is mentally fit for trial
Nairobi, Kenya Religion News Service Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, the self–proclaimed Kenyan pastor who is accused of orchestrating the deaths of more than 400 members of his congregation by starvation, was ruled mentally fit to stand trial by the High Court at Malindi on Tuesday. The taxi driver-turned-charismatic preacher faces multiple charges, including murder and terrorism, […]
Kenyan suspect in religious cult deaths dies in custody after hunger strike
Mombasa, Kenya Reuters A Kenyan accused of involvement in the deaths of hundreds of members of a starvation cult has died after a 10-day hunger strike in police custody, a prosecutor said on Wednesday. Paul Mackenzie, 50, a Kenyan cult leader accused of ordering his followers, who were members of the Good News International Church, […]
Death toll from Kenyan doomsday cult crosses 300
Nairobi, Kenya Reuters The death toll from a Kenyan starvation cult crossed 300 on Tuesday after authorities exhumed more bodies in a forest, in one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history. Authorities say the dead were members of the Good News International Church, led by Paul Mackenzie, who is accused of ordering his […]
Kenyan authorities should have prevented cult deaths, President says
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Kenyan Government agencies should have been able to prevent the deaths by starvation of more than 200 members of a cult in the country’s coastal region, said President William Ruto, adding he took responsibility for the disaster. Authorities accuse Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, of ordering his followers to […]
Kenya unearths more bodies in search for death cult followers
Shakahola Forest, Kenya Reuters Kenyan investigators unearthed 29 more bodies on Friday in a continuing search for victims of a doomsday cult in the country’s south-east. The death toll now stands at 179. Authorities this week have searched for remains in shallow graves scattered throughout the Shakahola Forest and for any survivors as hundreds of […]
Christian leaders call for more regulation as extent of Kenya’s Shakahola massacre continues to become clear; pastors face court
Nairobi, Kenya As a religious cult massacre in the village of Shakahola in south-eastern Kenya continues to send shivers down the spines of Kenyans, religious leaders are calling for tighter regulation of churches to avert activities by rogue pastors that may harm innocent people. At the heart of what has been dubbed the “Shakahola Forest […]
Initial autopsies show children starved, asphyxiated in Kenyan cult
Nairobi, KenyaReuters The bodies of several children exhumed in eastern Kenya showed signs of starvation and in some cases asphyxiation, a government pathologist said on Monday, as investigators began the first autopsies on over 100 people linked to a doomsday cult. On Monday investigators said they had completed 10 autopsies, comprising nine children aged between […]
Children account for majority of Kenyan cult deaths – interior minister
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Children account for most of the 109 bodies so far recovered in mass graves linked to a cult in Kenya, the interior minister said on Friday, the latest details in a case that has shocked the country and prompted calls for tighter regulation of religious fringe groups. Followers of the Good News International […]