Kenyan Cult Leader Mackenzie Charged For Terror-Related Counts
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a self-proclaimed pastor, appeared in a packed courtroom in Mombasa, Kenya, alongside 94 co-defendants.
Principal magistrate Leah Juma ordered that journalists be removed from the courtroom shortly after the hearing began so that a protected witness could testify on camera.
Mackenzie, who was arrested in April of last year, is accused of inciting his followers to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus” in one of the world’s worst cult-related mass murders.
During a hearing in January, the father of seven and his co-accused pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.
A Shanzu court has set marathon hearing dates in the Shakahola massacre case in which prime suspect Paul Mackenzie and 94 others are faced with 13 terrorism-related counts. pic.twitter.com/EQGuPUXvpj
— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) July 8, 2024
In addition, the 55 men and 40 women face charges of murder, manslaughter, child torture, and cruelty in separate cases.
More than 440 people’s remains have been discovered so far in a remote wilderness inland from the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi, in a case known as the “Shakahola forest massacre”.
Autopsies revealed that, while starvation appeared to be the leading cause of death, some victims, including children, were strangled, beaten, or suffocated.
Previous court documents stated that some of the bodies had their organs removed.
Prosecutors said in a statement that they planned to call approximately 90 witnesses to testify, as well as physical and digital evidence.
“The prosecution will present evidence to illustrate that the accused did not function merely as a fringe group, but rather as a well-organised criminal enterprise operating under the guise of a church under the leadership of (Mackenzie),” the statement said.
Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, surrendered after police discovered four bodies and several other starving people in Shakahola forest in April of last year.
A relative of one of the victims received information about grisly happenings in Shakahola forest from a former member of Mackenzie’s Good News International Church, prompting the police action.
Mackenzie established the church in 2003 but closed it in 2019 and relocated to the sleepy town of Shakahola to prepare for what he predicted would be the end of the world in August of that year.
Following months of painstaking work to identify victims using DNA, authorities began releasing some of their bodies to distraught relatives in March of this year.
Questions have been raised about how Mackenzie, a self-proclaimed pastor with a history of extremism, evaded law enforcement despite his high profile and previous legal troubles.
Last year, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki accused Kenyan police of being lax in investigating initial reports of starvation.
“The Shakahola massacre is the worst breach of security in the history of our country,” he told a senate committee hearing, vowing to “relentlessly push for legal reforms to tame rogue preachers”.
According to reports from the Kenyan senate and a state-funded human rights watchdog, authorities could have prevented the deaths.
In March, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) chastised Malindi security officers for “gross abdication of duty and negligence”.
Following the horrific saga, President William Ruto has promised to intervene in Kenya’s domestic religious movements.
In largely Christian Kenya, it has also shed light on failed efforts to regulate unscrupulous churches and cults that have dabbled in criminality.
Kenyan Cult Leader Mackenzie Charged For Terror-Related Counts
