Kenya cult leader charged with child torture and cruelty
The Hindu
Kenyan court charges leader of starvation cult with child torture and cruelty over deaths of 400 followers.
A Kenyan court on January 15 charged the leader of a starvation cult with child torture and cruelty over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers.
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 38 other suspects pleaded not guilty to charges including beating and deliberately starving children, according to court documents from the Mombasa court seen by AFP.
Mackenzie, who has already been charged with terrorism and manslaughter, is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death in order to "meet Jesus" in a case that provoked horror across the world.
A court in the coastal city of Malindi is scheduled to rule on February 6 if the self-proclaimed pastor is mentally fit to face additional charges of murder.
He was arrested last April after bodies were discovered in the Shakahola forest near the Indian Ocean.
Autopsies revealed that the majority of the 429 victims had died of hunger.
But others, including children, appeared to have been strangled, beaten or suffocated.
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