Kenyan cult leader to face murder charges in starvation deaths

FILE PHOTO: Paul Mackenzie, 50, a Kenyan cult leader accused of ordering his followers, who were members of the Good News International Church, to starve themselves to death in Shakahola forest, alights from a police pick-up truck as he arrive at the Shanzu Law Courts, in Mombasa, Kenya May 10, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

MALINDI, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan judge on Wednesday ordered cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 30 associates to undergo mental health evaluations before being charged with the murder of 191 children whose bodies have been exhumed since last April from the Shakahola forest.

Authorities say Mackenzie, the head of the Good News International Church, ordered his followers in southeastern Kenya to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven before the world ended.