Image: COURTESY
Good News International church founder Paul Mackenzie has been trending for all the wrong reasons.
This is after mass graves were found on his land in Shakahola.
Before he became a pastor, Mackenzie worked as a Taxi driver near Malindi Police Station.
At the time he did not even attend church.
So far 38 bodies have been discovered.
Many might wonder who Mackenzie is but what is more worrying is the things he allegedly asked his 'followers' to do.
- Stop children from going to school.
- Burn all school certificates.
- Women were not to shave
- Sick people were not to be taken to the hospital to seek treatment.
- To live within his land, now famously known as Shakahola.
- Fast to death, as it is one way to see God.
Fourteen more bodies were over the weekend retrieved from the graves of people believed to have died as a result of fasting due to cult-like teachings of Malindi controversial pastor Paul Mackenzie in Shakahola Magarini.
This brings to 21 the number of bodies that have been retrieved by the homicide unit, DCI detectives, and other security personnel.
Five bodies, believed to be belonging to one family were found in one grave.
In another grave, three bodies were found on top of each other.
"We found, a man, woman, and three children in one grave," a detective said
In the bodies exhumed, children were more as compared to adults.
By Friday 58 graves had been identified.
A team of about 100 officers led by the Homicide Unit Director together with a pathologist, officers from the DCI, the forensic Department, and regular police are leading the operation.
The public was not allowed at the crime scene and journalists were also given instructions on how to conduct themselves at the scene.
After about two hours of digging, there were indications that there were bodies and carefully one body of a grown-up was found followed by two bodies that had been buried in one grave.
That site was identified on Thursday.
Human rights activists from Haki Africa and Malindi Social Justice Center also witnessed the exhuming process.
Mathias Shipeta of Haki Africa said they are happy with the progress made so far by the security agencies.
Search for more bodies is ongoing on April 21.
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