Doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 30 of his followers were presented in a Kenyan court in the coastal town of Malindi on Wednesday to face charges of murdering 191 children. Mackenzie and the other suspects were not yet formally charged and so did not enter pleas because High Court Judge Mugure Thande granted a request from prosecutors that they undergo mental assessments and return to court on Feb. 6, reports the AP and the New York Times. The remains of 180 of the 191 dead children have not been identified, according to the prosecution's charge sheet.
Mackenzie and some of his followers have been blamed for the deaths of 429 members of his Good News International Church, many of whom are believed to have starved themselves in the belief that by doing so they would meet Jesus Christ before the world ends. The bodies were discovered in dozens of shallow graves on an 800-acre ranch in a remote area known as Shakahola Forest in the coastal county of Kilifi. The graves were found after police rescued 15 emaciated church members who told investigators that Mackenzie had instructed them to fast to death before the world ends. Four of the 15 died after they were taken to a hospital.
Autopsies on some of the bodies found in the graves showed they died from starvation, strangulation, or suffocation. Kenya's top prosecutor said on Monday that 95 people will be charged with murder, cruelty, child torture, and other crimes. Mackenzie allegedly encouraged church members to move to Shakahola Forest to prepare for the end of the world. A Senate committee report said Mackenzie chose the area due to its remoteness. "Once inside the villages established by Mackenzie, followers were not allowed to leave the area," the report said. "The followers were required to destroy vital documents, among them national identity cards, birth certificates, certificates of title to property, academic certificates, and marriage certificates," creating problems in identifying the dead, the report said.
(More
cult stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
