Controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie of the Good News International Church together with his wife and 93 other co-accused were on Tuesday charged with manslaughter in a Mombasa court.
The 95 defendants vehemently denied involvement in the events that transpired in Shakahola between 2019 and 2023, categorically rejecting all 238 manslaughter charges.
Following the discovery of bodies in the Shakahola forest, Paul Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023. He faces charges of inciting his followers to engage in actions that resulted in their deaths, as well as separate terrorism charges.
Over 400 bodies have been exhumed from the vast 800-acre plot controlled by controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie, with 40 positively identified by government officials.
Autopsies carried out by the government pathologist Johansen Oduor revealed that the majority of the victims had died of hunger.
Others, including innocent children, met their demise through acts of violence: strangulation, beatings, and even suffocation.