MOMBASA, KENYA
A Kenyan court on Wednesday
extended by 30 days the detention of cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who
authorities accuse of ordering followers to starve their children and
themselves to death.FILE: Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge (C), who set up the Good News International Church in 2003 and is accused of inciting cult followers to starve to death "to meet Jesus", appears in the dock with other co-accused at the court in Malindi on May 2, 2023.
Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda said
at a hearing in the port city of Mombasa that Mackenzie and 17 other people
detained in connection with the mass deaths would not be granted bail because
of concerns that their release would jeopardize investigations.
"Being aware of the
respondents' right to be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, I find
that there is reasonable suspicion that the respondents may have committed the
offences under investigation," Shikanda said.
The death toll has climbed to
133, and hundreds of people are still reported missing. Authorities continue to
search for human remains in shallow graves scattered throughout a forest where
Mackenzie's followers were living.
Wycliffe Makasembo, a lawyer
for Mackenzie and his wife, who is also detained, said he would appeal against
the decision.
"The ruling was not
within the law. It violates the constitutional rights of our clients,"
Makasembo told Reuters.
Mackenzie was arrested earlier
this year on suspicion of the murder of two children by starvation and
suffocation, but was then released on bail.
Relatives of his adherents say
that after he was freed, he returned to Shakahola forest and brought forward
his predicted world's end date - which had previously fallen in August - to
April 15.
Mackenzie surrendered to
police on April 14 after police first raided the forest where the Good News
International Church was based, rescuing 15 people who had been starving
themselves.
In recent days, allegations of
organ harvesting from those who starved have been raised.
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