Shakahola Massacre: 10 children among 36 autopsies conducted

Out of the 36 autopsies conducted, 18 were male, 17 were female and one victim’s gender was not identified.

According to Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor, out of the total autopsies, 33 bodies were severely decomposed of which 10 of them were children and the rest adults.

The age of the three remaining bodies could not be determined, according to Oduor, due to the state of their decomposition.

Oduor further noted that out of 10 minors whose bodies have been discovered, one was a foetus. 

In regard to the cause of death for the victims, the chief pathologist revealed that 15 of them died as a result of starvation while one appeared to have developed complications resulting from a respiratory disease.  

“18 of them we were unable to state the cause of death, however, we could see features of starvation in 14 of the victims while one of them had some head injury,” he said.

"We took samples for further analysis which include DNA since we were unable to state the identity of some persons which DNA will help us to.”

He however noted that they could not identify the cause of death for 18 bodies due to the level of decomposition.

Oduor said one body was fresh since the victim had died inward due to tuberculosis. He was rescued on Monday in the forest in a bad state with features of dehydration and starvation. 

He says another victim had blunt trauma in the leg but died because of features of what looked like starvation.

The suspected cult linked to controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie of Good News International Church has seen the deaths of more than 235 people and over 600 people reported missing.