Shakahola horror as 26 more autopsies conducted raising death toll to 425, 600 missing
The extent of the genocide like Shakahola massacre has parachuted to shocking levels after the death toll rose to 425 and over 600 others still missing.
The revelation came to light today while the Chief Government Pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor conducted autopsies on 26 bodies recovered from Shakahola forest in Kilifi County.
The exercise, which marked the end of phase four of the post-mortems, determined that out of the victims, 14 were adults while 10 were children.
The suspected cult linked to controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie of Good News International Church has been connected to the deaths.
Mackenzie who is currently in police custody is accused of brainwashing his followers to starve themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus.”
The genders of the remaining two bodies could not be identified owing to decomposition of the remains.
The postmortem also revealed that eight of the victims were male while 14 were women. The genders of the other four victims could not be ascertained.
Two of the female victims, the autopsies revealed, were pregnant when they met their demise.
Eight of the victims died from starvation while the causes of death of the other 18 could not be determined due to decomposition.
Relatives of victims of the Shakahola fasting ritual linked will wait longer to get bodies of their kin for burial as Oduor said DNA results from the Government Chemists were yet to reach his team.
Meanwhile, a Shanzu Law court today ruled that Mackenzie will remain in custody for two more days pending the hearing and determination of an application filed by the prosecution seeking to detain him and his co accused for 47 more days.
The prosecution argued that they needed time to complete investigations with the defence counsel asked the court to dismiss the application, citing inhumane conditions meted on their clients while in custody.
Mackenzie and his 15 other co-accused persons today appeared before Shanzu Law Courts Senior Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda following the lapse of 30 days granted by the court to detain them previously.
