By Abimbola Ogunnaike with agency report
Police operatives in Kenya have exhumed 21 bodies from shallow graves in Malindi, a coastal town in the southeastern part of the country.
This comes after Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge of the Good News International Church told his members to starve themselves to death in order to meet ‘Jesus.’
BBC reports that 15 members of the church were rescued from shallow graves in the Shakahola forest, including a 55-year-old man found on Friday in a hideout.
Kenya Broadcasting Station (KBC) said that 58 graves have so far been identified, adding that dead children are among those that have been exhumed.
Nthenge, also known as the ‘cult’ leader, was arrested on Saturday, 15 April, 2023, after four bodies suspected of having starved themselves to death were discovered by the police.
A police source who spoke with AFP news agency, disclosed that: “In one grave, investigators found the bodies of three children with their father on one side and their mother on the other side. Another grave contained the bodies of a woman and a girl, both facing each other. All appeared to have died in recent weeks.
Police have identified at least 58 suspected graves on the grounds of the Good News International Church, raising fears that the death toll will rise significantly. One Kenyan media outlet reported that more than 100 people may have been buried in the graves.
“We have not even scratched the surface which gives a clear indication that we are likely to get more bodies by the end of this exercise,” police said.
