Crime scene
Police in Kilifi county have arrested a 31-year-old woman after she was found engaging in prolonged fasting at Shakahola farmlands in Malindi subcounty, Kilifi county.
The area has been a point of interest after more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves following cult like deaths.
The woman, a resident of Thika, Kiambu county, was reportedly spotted by villagers fasting for three days at a location near River Galana, officials said.
Local officials were alerted before police were called and took her to custody on Sunday.
During questioning, she reportedly said she had undertaken the fasting following what she described as a religious calling.
She told police that she had travelled from Kiambu County to Lamu, then to Baolala before proceeding to Shakahola.
She denied any association with Paul Mackenzie or his teachings, police said on Monday.
Police said a search of her belongings recovered a black touchscreen mobile phone, a lesso, a black bag containing two partially filled water bottles allegedly containing acid, six matchboxes and stones.
She reportedly told investigators that she had been carrying the items during the fasting period.
She was subsequently placed in police custody pending further questioning and investigations.
The contents of the bottles and the purpose of the other items recovered are yet to be established through investigations.
Officials said they remained on alert in the area to stop any form of such prayers. Most victims are non locals.
The incident reignites the memories of Shakahola massacre where more than 400 people were found dead.
The Shakahola Forest incident, also known as the Shakahola massacre, involved a religious cult led by Mackenzie.
Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter among others charges.
Survivors of the cult say children were supposed to be the first to starve themselves, according to a macabre order drawn up by Mackenzie. Then the unmarried, women, men, and last of all, church leaders.
Mackenzie set up his Good News International Church in 2003, but said he had closed it in 2019.
He encouraged his followers to move to Shakahola forest and prepare for the end of the world to "meet Jesus".
Mackenzie preached that formal education was satanic and used to extort money.
In 2017 and again in 2018, he was arrested for encouraging children not to go to school as he claimed education was "not recognised in the Bible".
The authorities have faced criticism after the discovery of the mass grave, with accusations that the deaths could have been prevented had there been tougher regulations.
