A cult leader in Kenya has been charged with murder after more than 400 bodies were found buried in shallow graves in a remote forest in the east of the country.
Survivors and victims’ families have said Paul Mackenzie urged followers to fast in order to “go see Jesus.”
He and 29 others pleaded not guilty in a court in the coastal town of Malindi.
Mackenzie has already been charged with committing acts of terror, child cruelty, and torture, which he denied
Police and prosecutors allege that, apart from starvation, some victims may have been strangled, suffocated, or beaten to death using blunt objects.
The 30 accused have been charged with murdering 191 people.
“I’m still scared of him,” one survivor told the BBC when asked what she would say to Mackenzie if she ever met him.
“I don’t want to ever meet him,” said the 29-year-old mother of four.
Neema, not her real name, had been a follower of the Good News International Church in Malindi until it was closed down in 2019.
When she heard that its leader had moved to Shakahola, the forest about 70km (43 miles) west of the town, together with other members of the church, she followed him there in 2022.
Source: BBC
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