"My children are dead, I know for sure," says father of Kenya cult victims.

Record ID: 1722408

  • Title: "My children are dead, I know for sure," says father of Kenya cult victims.
  • Date: 26th April 2023
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Swahili) HUSBAND AND FATHER OF VICTIMS, STEVEN MWITI, SAYING: "We had problems until one day she came and took the kids and ran away. I followed and found out that she was living close to pastor Mackenzi's church. I took the children back. She then returned home and pretended she was content. I warned her that if she goes back to that church she should not ret
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2023 18:47
  • Keywords: church cult death hunger mass grave religion
  • Location: MALINDI, KENYA
  • City: MALINDI, KENYA
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Africa,Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA004804726042023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: On Wednesday (April 26) dozens of people came to identify the remains of their relatives, thought to have starved themselves to death in hope of going to heaven after joining the self-proclaimed Good News International Church, led by Patrick Mackenzie. They sat wailing, outside a morgue in the Kenyan town of Malindi.
    Many held up photographs of their loved ones, saying their names aloud. The morgue has rapidly filled up since authorities started digging up human remains on Friday (April 21) from shallow graves discovered in an 800-acre area of the Shakahola forest, where the church was based.
    Inside a hospital in Malindi, some of those who had been rescued lay on beds sleeping, others ate whatever their bodies could take.
    Steven Mwiti lost his wife and five children after they starved to death. He spoke to Reuters at his home. He recounted how his wife took his five children and disappeared for lengthy periods of time in 2015 to live near Patrick Mackenzie’s church. After the first time, he rescued them.
    “I warned her that if she goes back to that church she should not return here. If you decide to go, leave my children here.' He said.
    His wife did not heed his warning and went back to the church for a second time. He rescued her again, but she escaped for the third time and took the children. Mwiti told Reuters that when he contacted her, she told him that they did not have food. He made fresh attempts to rescue them but was unsuccessful.
    “The young men (there) told me that my children had been living in the forest since 2021. They told me my children had been starved to death.''
    Mwiti is one of many who is yet to identify his loved ones among the 81 bodies the authorities have already exhumed. And they are not among the 36 rescued by Wednesday (April 26)
    Kenyan newspapers reported that the cult followers had named some of their forest settlements Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Judea.
    The cult's leader, Paul Mackenzie, surrendered to police on April 14 and is being held alongside 14 other cult members, according to police.
    Kenyan media have reported that Mackenzie is refusing food and water.
    (Production: Nelson Aruya, Christophe van der Perre, Mukelwa Hlatshwayo)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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