The self-proclaimed pastor Paul Dhenge Mackenzie, who had already been prosecuted for “terrorism”, is additionally accused of “manslaughter” after death of 429 followers of his heresy, whom he persuaded to fast unto death.
Mackenzie and his 94 co-defendants, including his wife, they stated “innocent” after the indictment for 238 “negligent homicides” was read to them in a Mombasa court, more than nine months after the first victims were found in the Sakahola forest, on the Kenyan coast, where the evangelical “International Church of Good News” had been active .
Prosecutors announced on January 16 that they want to prosecute about ten offenses against those accused of “massacre of Sakahola”which shocked her Kenya last spring. Two days later Mackenzie was prosecuted for “facilitating the commission of a terrorist act”, “participating in organized, criminal activity” and “radicalisation”. Another court, in the city of Malindi, ordered a psychiatric examination for the pastor and 30 of his co-accused before considering prosecuting him for murder. The hearing was set for February 6.
On Thursday, as reported by APE-MPE, new prosecutions may be brought against those accused of crimes against small children.
A total of 429 bodies were found in the Sakahola forest
Mackenzie, who was a taxi driver until he founded his church, has been detained since April 14, 2023. A day earlier, the first bodies of believers were found in the Sakahola forest. The next days a total of 429 bodies were found and some of the believers are believed to have died many years ago.
Most of the victims died of starvation, after they followed Mackenzie's sermon which exhorted them to fast unto death to “meet Jesus” before the end of the world comes, which he predicted would happen in August 2023. Some of the victims, including children, were strangled or beaten to death.
His revelation scandal embarrassed the Kenyan authorities for not stopping the alleged pastor, even though he had been arrested several times in the past for his extremist preaching. A Senate committee in its report in October highlighted mistakes by police and judicial authorities who had been notified twice about Mackenzie, in 2017 and 2019.
Source: News Beast
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