‘Starvation cult’: Kenyan police exhume 21 bodies as part of investigation

Kenyan police have exhumed 21 bodies from more than a dozen suspected graves thought to be connected to a ‘starvation cult’.

Those exhumed are believed to be followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death.

The shallow graves are in Shakahola forest, where 15 members of the Good News International Church were rescued last week.

Dead children were among those exhumed at the location in Kilifi county, and police said they expected to find even more bodies, the BBC reported.

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The leader of the church, Paul Mackenzie, was arrested following a tip-off that also suggested the existence of shallow graves belonging to at least 31 of Mr Mackenzie’s followers.

Police said the 15 rescued worshippers had been told to starve themselves to death so they could meet their creator. Four of them died before they reached hospital.

Titus Katana, a former member of the church, helped police identify the graves.

“We have shown the graves to the police, and in addition, we have saved the life of a woman who only had a few hours left, otherwise she’d also be dead,” Mr Katana told Citizen TV.

Matthew Shipeta from Haki Africa, a human rights group, said he had seen at least 15 shallow graves in the forest.

Helen Mikali, the manager of a children’s home who was also helping investigators, said she had visited several nearby villages where parents and children had disappeared.

“Personally I have visited about 18 children’s graves,” Ms Mikali told Citizen TV. She did not say how she knew the graves contained the remains of children.

Last month police arrested and later released Mr Mackenzie, who they identified as Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, for encouraging the parents of two boys to starve and suffocate their children to death. – Reuters