Suspected serial killer cleric in the dock

The leader of a Kenyan cult who allegedly encouraged hundreds of followers to starve themselves to death has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie appeared in a Mombasa court alongside 94 other suspects. He was arrested last April after 429 bodies, including children, were dug up from mass graves in Shakahola, a remote forest near Malindi. BBC News reports that most of the bodies showed signs of starvation and assault. ‘There has never been a manslaughter case like this in Kenya,’ prosecutor Alexander Jami Yamina told AFP. More than 400 witnesses will testify this week. Yamina said the suspects would be prosecuted under a law relating to suicide pacts. Mackenzie set up his Good News International Church in 2003, but said he closed it in 2019. He encouraged his followers to move to the forest and prepare for the end of the world to ‘meet Jesus’.