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Phase three autopsy on Shakahola cult bodies ends

Government pathologist Johansen Oduor says 338 bodies have since been examined.

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by EMMANUEL WANJALA

News27 June 2023 - 14:28
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In Summary


  • • The autopsy on the body of the follower of pastor Paul Mackenzie who died in prison is, however, still pending.
  • • Speaking during Tuesday's briefing, Oduor said they managed to do eight postmortems including a child and seven adults.
Detectives from the Homicide Unit and forensic experts retrieve bodies of people believed to be followers of controversial Malindi pastor Paul Mackenzie in Shakahola, Magarini, in Kilifi county

The team of pathologists and detectives have completed the third phase of autopsies on bodies exhumed from Shakahola forest has ended.

The team led by Government Chief Pathologist Johansen Oduor said they have completed autopsies for 338 bodies since the exercise began.

The autopsy on the body of the follower of pastor Paul Mackenzie who died in prison is, however, still pending.

Speaking during Tuesday's briefing, Oduor said they managed to do eight postmortems including a child and seven adults.

“Today we have finished the third phase of the postmortem process and we have done a total of eight of these eight postmortems adults were seven while one was a child,” he said.

He said three of the bodies they did an autopsy on were male while five of them were female adding that two were moderately decomposed while six were severely decomposed.

The pathologist said two of the bodies had head injuries while three had signs of starvation but the cause of death of three bodies could not be ascertained due to the level of decomposition.

“So, having finished these autopsies, there is one who we have not done the gentleman who died at the prison reason being we are still waiting for the relatives who are on the way but once they are here and they are able to identify their kin, we shall do the postmortem,” he said.

Currently, he said they were planning to go to the next phase of exhumation so that they go find out whether there are any other graves remaining and continue with the process.

Oduor said of the 338 postmortems concluded, 201 were bodies of adults and 117 children. He said they were unable to ascertain the ages of 120 bodies.

"Of these also, 131 are male while 185 are female, 22 we were unable to ascertain the gender,” he said.

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