Kenyan Cult Leader Faces New Murder Charges

Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie is set to be formally charged with an additional 52 deaths, prosecutors announced on Monday. These new charges relate to incidents at the Binzaro homestead in Kilifi County. Investigators have gathered evidence, including handwritten notes from Mackenzie's prison cell, suggesting he orchestrated these killings through radical teachings and mobile phone transactions.

Mackenzie, already in custody since his 2023 arrest, faces a growing list of accusations. In 2023, hundreds of bodies, including those of children, were exhumed from mass graves in the Shakahola forest, leading to initial charges of manslaughter. The recent discovery of around 34 bodies and over 100 body parts in Binzaro, about 30 km from Shakahola, has prompted these latest charges.

Prosecutors are pursuing charges including radicalisation, facilitation of terrorist acts, and murder for the Binzaro deaths. This follows a co-accused pleading guilty to charges involving the deaths of 191 children found in the original mass graves. Survivors have detailed Mackenzie's alleged macabre order for followers, starting with children, to starve themselves to 'meet Jesus'. Mackenzie, who founded his church in 2003, previously preached against formal education, leading to arrests in 2017 and 2018.