Skeletons continue to tumble out of the closet of the doomsday cult in Kenya that murdered hundreds. Reportedly, Children were targetted first and starved to death, followed by adults, according to fresh accounts.
A former deputy preacher named Titus Katana of the cult revealed that there was a methodical plan for mass suicide through starvation. Children were the first to perish and were asked to “to fast in the sun so they would die faster”. Women and men were next to follow the plan, according to Katana who was quoted as saying by New York Times.
Katana joined the Good News church run by Pastor Paul Mackenzie in 2015 and became the deputy pastor soon. He said he admired Mackenzie initially for his preaching but soon felt a shift after the latter seemingly made contact with the ‘god’.
“He told me he had received a revelation from God. Everything bad started with this,” said Katana.
Katana, who is co-operating with the authorities in the investigation also revealed that children were treated brutally by being shut in huts for five days without food or water.
“Then they wrapped them in blankets and buried them, even the ones still breathing,” he added.
After Katana left the cult, he said he went to the police to report that “kids are dying” in the forest.
“They [Police] never took any action until it was too late,” he said.
According to the latest reports, the total death toll in the case has risen to 201 with 22 additional bodies being discovered last Saturday. Official autopsies of some of the bodies found signs of starvation, suffocation and beatings.
As per the Coast Regional Commissioner, over 600 people have been reported missing, including from villages around the forest.
The shocking Kenya religious starvation cult
Last month, the Kenyan authorities raided the premises of Paul Makenzie Nthenge, a pastor who ran the Good News International Church and advised followers to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus”.
WATCH | Gravitas: The Kenya Christian cult deaths
The police said they began the operation after receiving a secret tip that ‘ignorant’ followers of Nthenge were ‘starving themselves to death’. After reaching the church, they found 15 malnourished followers who were on the verge of death. Seven died before reaching the hospital as authorities extended their investigation by searching the nearby cemetery and forest.
Since then, the case has gained international prominence with another pastor named Ezekiel Odero named as the second culprit, responsible for murder, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalisation, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud, and money laundering.
(With inputs from agencies)
