Post-mortem reveals brutal killings in Kwa Binzaro cult deaths

Some of the victims of the Kwa Binzaro cult in Kilifi County's Malindi area were hit on the head, and their deaths were likely caused by assault, a post-mortem exercise revealed.

In a case that is similar to the 2023 Shakahola massacre, the post-mortem done on one of the six retrieved from Kwa Binzaro had haemorrhage of the brain.

Chief Government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor said that while starvation appears to be the main cause of death, some of the victims, including women, were hit and beaten.

"The body was still fresh. It had head injuries and a lot of haematoma on the right centre of the head. When you look at the brain, it was just a global haemorrhage of the brain," he said.

On Wednesday, a team of pathologists, morticians and detectives performed autopsies on six bodies out of the 34 bodies that were exhumed.

Speaking at the Malindi sub-county mortuary, Dr Oduor said autopsies revealed that some members were deliberately hit and killed, raising suspicion of forced deaths.

He said the haemorrhage to the brain was caused by a blunt object. The pathologist concluded that the deceased was murdered by blunt trauma to the head.

"The deceased also looked unwell and hydrated, and he had what looked like pneumonia because the lungs were consolidated and there was tissue on the lungs," he added.

Oduor further said they could not determine the cause of death of some of the bodies due to the decomposition level.

"We have managed to do six autopsies, and five of them were skeletonised, so we were unable to determine the cause of death or the gender," he said.

He has also asked families who might have lost their loved ones to come forward and give their DNA samples.

"We are calling upon the public to come forward. We need family members whose loved ones are missing to come and give their DNA sample for identification purposes," said Dr Oduor.

At least 102 body parts collected scattered in the forest will also be subjected to postmortem and DNA analysis.

However, pathologists are facing the challenge of sorting out the commingled remains mixed up by hyenas.

Few families have shown up at the Malindi subcounty mortuary and given their DNA samples to help in identifying their loved ones.

This comes as a multi-agency team continues with mapping of homesteads at Kwa Binzaro death field. The team has also been tasked with searching for new graves and collecting body parts scattered near graves.

The death toll is expected to rise further after detectives discovered other new mass graves in Kwa Binzaro. Exhumation is expected to begin after the completion of autopsies.