Paul Mackenzie, the leader of a doomsday cult, is facing charges of terrorism and the murder of 191 children after the discovery of 429 bodies in a forest area near his church in Kenya.
Mackenzie allegedly instructed his followers to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus Christ before the world’s end.
However, autopsies revealed that some of the victims died from strangulation or suffocation. Mackenzie was arrested in April after police rescued 15 emaciated church members and the first bodies were found in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest area.
Over several months, exhumations uncovered a total of 429 bodies, including those of 191 children. Mackenzie is accused of forcing his followers to destroy their identification documents and isolating them from the outside world.
The mass starvation was reportedly planned in three phases, starting with children and ending with older men.
Currently serving a one-year prison sentence for operating a film studio without a valid license, Mackenzie will face charges of murder, child torture, and other offenses along with 95 other individuals involved in the atrocity.
He has previously been accused of extreme sermons and the deaths of two children, but was cleared of charges in the first case and released on bail for the second case.
In addition to the murder charges, Mackenzie is also facing charges related to facilitating a terrorist act. During a court appearance, Mackenzie and 30 of his followers were granted a mental health assessment and did not enter a plea.
