MALINDI, Kenya Feb 6 – A mental assessment has determined that Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the Shakahola cult, and 29 of his followers are fit to stand murder trial.
However, one accused person, Evans Sirwa, has been found unfit to face murder charges, according to submissions in Court Tuesday.
The state had initially requested a two-week period for a mental assessment of the accused individuals before proceeding with murder charges.
These charges stem from the deaths of more than 400 people who were forced to starve to death under the orders of Mackenzie, the head of the Good News International Church in the coast.
Mackenzie had reportedly instructed his followers to undertake this extreme act in belief that it would allow them to ascend to heaven before an impending apocalypse.
Over the course of several months, authorities conducted extensive exhumations across vast forested areas of Shakahola near the Indian Ocean, uncovering more than 400 bodies.
During the court hearing, Mackenzie, along with his co-defendants, appeared largely expressionless.
Delays in filing charges were attributed to the challenging process of locating and exhuming numerous human remains, as well as conducting autopsies. Some cult members, who had been subjected to starvation, were rescued in emaciated conditions from the forest.
Individuals familiar with the cult’s activities revealed that Mackenzie had planned the mass starvation in three phases, beginning with children, followed by women and young men, and concluding with the remaining men.
The cult leader had also prohibited members from sending their children to school and seeking medical treatment when ill, labeling such institutions as satanic.
He had previously been convicted in December on charges of producing and distributing films without a license, resulting in a 12-month jail sentence.
In 2019, he had been arrested in connection with the deaths of children but was released on bond, with those cases still pending in court.
