The Director of Public Prosecutions Mulele Ingonga Tuesday ordered the prosecution of 95 individuals from Wednesday with murder, manslaughter, radicalization, cruelty, and child torture among other charges in the Shakahola massacre probe.
The killings happened in Shakahola area, Kilifi county.
The Public Prosecutor had given until January 23 to charge Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the Shakahola forest starvation cult, blamed for the death of over 400 followers of his so-called Good News International Church.
Shanzu Principal Magistrate Yousuf Shikanda issued the new ultimatum on Tuesday last week citing the historic length of pre-trial detention on Mackenzie and his associates.
“As already stated in my previous ruling, this is the longest pre-charge detention in the history of the country following the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” Shikanda said.
Read: Shakahola Massacre: Mackenzie, Co-Accused Detained For A Further 130 Days
Shikanda who noted the accused persons had been in detention for 117 days since their arrest said the DPP must process charges against the accused persons within 14 days.
“If no decision to charge the respondents will have been made after the expiry of such period, the court will consider releasing the respondents from custody on terms that will be determined by the court,” he said.
So far more than 400 bodies have exhumed.
Dozens more bodies are believed to be buried in shallow graves therein. Mackenzie, who is in police custody, is being investigated for influencing his followers to starve to death in order to meet their maker.
Police also suspect that some of the victims did not starve to death and may have been killed and then buried on the property. He has denied wrongdoing, but has been refused bail. He insists that he shut down his church in 2019. The followers say he told them to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus”.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
