Calay News
In a forest in the remote commune of Shakahola in southwestern Kenya, search teams have discovered 22 additional bodies belonging to members of a religious cult. This discovery brings the total number of deaths among followers of this radical Christian sect to 201, as regional commissioner Rhodah Onyancha confirmed.
Onyancha reported that authorities have arrested another suspect, bringing the total number of people arrested in connection with the deaths to 26. The cult leader, Paul Mackenzie, who allegedly ordered the worshippers of the Good News International Church to completely renounce food and wait for death to meet Jesus Christ in heaven, was denied bail by the Kenyan court last Wednesday.
Some victims of the starvation cult, especially children, women, and the elderly, were forced to starve to death or suffocate by other cult members to hasten their deaths.
In addition, there are indications that Mackenzie and a group of accomplices benefited financially and materially from these tragic acts. It had been previously reported that the cult’s followers voluntarily went to the forest, where they were deprived of food and water until they died, while the pastor’s accomplices buried the corpses in exchange for money that the victims themselves paid in advance.
