The number of alleged members of a Christian sect who fast to death in Kenya to meet Jesus Christ has risen to 226 after authorities found 15 more bodies on Wednesday, police said.
According to the regional police commissioner, Rhoda Onyancha, quoted by the local press, “14 bodies were exhumed and one was found in the forest.”
“Today, one person has been rescued from the forest during the ongoing search and rescue operation,” bringing the number of rescued victims to 85, Onyancha explains.
The total number of arrested suspects remains at 31, while the number of missing persons remains at 610.
Almost all the fatalities of the so-called “Shakahola massacre”, the name given to the forest where the tragedy took place, were exhumed from the graves and found mass graveswith the exception of a few who died in hospital from malnutrition.
Autopsies performed on more than a hundred bodies revealed that while all showed signs of starvation, the corpses of at least three minors and one adult also showed signs of strangulation and suffocation.
Initial police investigations also indicate that the faithful were forced to continue fasting even when they wanted to give it up.
A week ago, a court in Shanzu, in the coastal city of Mombasa, ordered an extension of the arrest of the leader of the cult believed to have persuaded the victims to fast, Reverend Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, along with his wife and 16 other suspects . 30 days (from May 3).
On May 2, Nthenge and the other detainees were released by the court in the coastal town of Malindi after the public prosecutor’s office declared its intent to charge them with terrorism, which the court had ruled out of jurisdiction.
However, the pastor and his supporters were arrested a few minutes later and transferred to the Shanzu court some 120 kilometers away, where the police unsuccessfully applied for permission to detain them for another 90 days.
On Sunday, Kenyan President William Ruto apologized on behalf of his government for failing to prevent the killings.
Nthenge, who has been in police custody since April 14, leads the International Church of the Good News.
The pastor, a former taxi driver, was arrested in March after being charged with killing two children in similar circumstances but was released on bail.
Source: DN
