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00:00 A Kenyan judge on Wednesday ordered cult leader Paul McKenzie and 30 associates to undergo
00:06 mental health evaluations. That's before being charged with the murder of 191 children.
00:16 Authorities say McKenzie, the head of the Good News International Church, ordered his
00:21 followers in southeastern Kenya to starve themselves and their children to death. That
00:27 was, he had allegedly told them, so they could go to heaven before the end of the world.
00:32 People with knowledge of the cult said last year that McKenzie had planned the mass starvation in
00:38 three phases, starting with the children. Cult members were also forbidden from sending their
00:43 children to school or visiting hospitals, some of his followers have said, with McKenzie branding
00:48 such institutions as satanic. The 191 children are among over 400 bodies to have been exhumed
00:59 since last April from the Shaka Hola forest. It is one of the world's worst cult-related tragedies
01:06 in recent history. Prosecutors say they will charge 95 people in total on counts of murder,
01:13 manslaughter, terrorism and torture. A lawyer for McKenzie, who has been in custody since police
01:20 started unearthing the bodies, has said the self-styled pastor is cooperating with the
01:25 investigation. The prosecution request for mental health assessments was granted at a hearing in
01:31 the coastal town Melindi. The 31 defendants are expected to be formally charged and enter pleas
01:37 in two weeks.