By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities in Kenya have arraigned self-acclaimed pastor who instructed his members to starve to death in order to see Jesus.
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who founded the Good News International Church in 2003 appeared in the dock in Malindi on Tuesday for commencement of his trial on terrorism charges over the death of more than 100 people found buried in what has been dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre,” prosecutors said.
In addition to the terrorism charges, Mackenzie stands accused of murder, kidnapping, cruelty towards children among other crimes, documents seen by AFP indicated.
The East African country was stunned by the discovery of mass graves last month in a forest near the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi where the victims of Mackenzie were buried.
During his appearance on Tuesday, the court room was filled by relatives of victims as Mackenzie.
Dressed in pink and black jacket and brown trousers, Mackenzie was brought in by about half a dozen police officers along with eight other defendants.
After a brief hearing, the case was moved to the high court in Kenya’s second-largest city of Mombasa, where the suspects will face terrorism charges, prosecutor Vivian Kambaga told AFP.
“There is a court (in Mombasa) that is gazetted to handle cases under the prevention of terrorism act,” Kambaga told a magistrate during the hearing in Malindi, asking for the case to be moved to the high court.
Ezekiel Odero, a wealthy and high-profile televangelist, is also expected at the high court in Mombasa following his arrest in Malindi on Thursday in connection with the same case.
A total of 109 people have so far been confirmed dead, most of them children.
The first autopsies from Shakahola were carried out Monday on nine children and one woman.
They confirmed starvation as the cause of death, though some victims were asphyxiated, the authorities said.
Odero is suspected of murder, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalisation, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud and money laundering.
The prosecution is seeking to detain him for a further 30 days, citing credible information linking the corpses exhumed at Shakahola to the deaths of several “innocent and vulnerable followers” from Odero’s New Life Prayer Centre and Church.
