Steven Mwiti holds a photograph of his late wife Joan Bahati. Mwiti was too distraught to go identify the bodies of his wife and six children among the corpses of dozens of cult members. "My children are gone. The children who have been rescued, I went and had a look and I did not see my children," Mwiti said as he waved a photo of his wife and four of the children. He has been carrying the fading, dog-eared photo in a plastic bag for the last six months or so as he searched for his young ones. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
April 27, 2023
The leader of a Kenyan cult told his followers the world would end on April 15 and instructed them to starve themselves to be the first to go to heaven, a relative of cult members and hospital staff told Reuters on Wednesday.
he deaths amount to one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history and the toll is expected to rise further, with the Kenyan Red Cross saying more than 300 people have been reported as missing.
Cult leader Paul Mackenzie has been in police custody since April 14, held alongside 14 other cult members. Kenyan media have reported that he is refusing food and water.
Mwiti said he had heard this from a former cult member who had been expelled for drinking water during the mass fast. Hospital staff in the coastal town of Malindi, where corpses and survivors are being taken, said they had heard the same account from survivors. headtopics.com
“He (Mackenzie) had an elaborate plan of killing children, youths and then adults, telling them he would be the last one to starve himself to death,” said one of the hospital staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
REUTERS
