Cult leader Paul Mackenzie and thirty of his associates were ordered by a Kenyan judge on Wednesday to undergo mental health evaluations prior to being charged with the murder of 191 children whose bodies had been exhumed from the Shakahola forest since last April.
The leader of the Good News International Church, Mackenzie, is accused by authorities of giving his followers in southeast Kenya instructions to starve themselves and their children to death in order to enter heaven before the end of the world. This is one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent memory, with over 400 bodies found during months of exhumations over tens of thousands of acres of forest.
According to the prosecution, a total of 95 people will face charges related to terrorism, torture, manslaughter, and murder.
Mackenzie’s attorney has stated that his client is assisting with the investigation. Mackenzie has been detained since police began finding bodies in the forest.
In the coastal town of Malindi, a judge granted the prosecution’s request to have the 31 defendants’ mental health evaluated prior to their formal charges and plea bargaining in two weeks.
Prosecutors have pointed to the difficult and delicate process of finding, excavating, and autopsying so many human remains as the reason for the delays in filing charges. Emaciated, a few of Mackenzie’s other followers were rescued from the forest.
