Court allows detectives to widen search for bodies in Shakahola
A Malindi court has given the homicide detectives permission to exhume all the graves within the 800-acre plot, no matter how long it takes.
A Malindi court has given homicide detectives permission to exhume all graves within cult leader Paul MAckenzie's 800-acre farm in Shakahola forest in Kilifi County, no matter how long it takes.
This is after the investigating officer went to court today seeking open court orders.
Previously, detectives had only been allowed to exhume 16 graves including the one suspected to contain the bodies of two children.
The Investigating Officer Sergeant Joseph Yator had requested the court to be allowed to continue with the exhumation exercise.
Earlier on, detectives were given a nod by the court to only dig up 16 gravesites including that believed to contain the bodies of two children whose sibling was rescued last month.
This puts the detectives on a clear to dig as many grave sites as they can.
The bodies of two children allegedly starved to death by their parents were to be exhumed last month, but the delay was occasioned by the absence of a government pathologist.
The homicide detectives kicked off the identification and mapping of the gravesites last Wednesday where a total of 32 were mapped.
By Friday, the exercise to exhume the bodies was started and 90 bodies had been exhumed by Tuesday afternoon.
Investigations showed that the children’s parents had been followers of controversial preacher Paul MacKenzie, who had reportedly instructed them to fast and attend his sermons.
They were not allowed to have water or food as they supposedly awaited the return of Jesus Christ.
One of their sons was saved from the claws of death unravelling the "hidden" activities of Mr Mackenzie.
The Nation last month found the boy malnourished, pointing to a case of severe starvation.
The boy could barely let out more than a muffled cry.
“According to the investigating officer Joseph Yator drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation in Malindi, police managed to rescue a third child. The rescued child narrated the sufferings his two siblings underwent after being starved for some time before their mother suffocated them to death,” the Director of Public Prosecutions said in court.
The State accuses Mackenzie of manipulating locals through extreme religious teachings, and fear of the unknown in pursuit of salvation, leading to the deaths of many.
The self-styled spiritual leader, who was once a controversial televangelist, is now in police custody for allegedly preaching a dangerous doctrine that encourages his followers to starve themselves to death in order to reach heaven faster.
Mackenzie’s followers say they have been told to starve to avoid apocalyptic damnation.
