Pastor Ezekiel Odero released On Sh1.5mn Cash Bail, After Application To Detain Him Thrown Out
Pastor Ezekiel Odero, the leader of the New Life Church, was released on Sh1.5 million cash bail after the court determined that there was no good cause to keep him in custody.
The pastor was given an alternative bond of Sh3 million by Shanzu Senior Principal Magistrate Joe Omido after the State’s request to keep him for an additional 30 days was denied.
The New Life Church and Prayer Center’s preacher had already spent seven days in Port Police custody.
Odero, a well-known and rich televangelist, is under investigation for a number of crimes, including murder, aiding suicide, kidnapping, radicalization, crimes against humanity, child abuse, fraud, and money laundering.
The “Shakahola forest massacre” claimed the lives of more than 100 individuals, many of them children. According to prosecutors, Odero has connections to cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who is currently in detention and charged with terrorism.
According to allegations made against Mackenzie, the leader of the Good News International Church, his followers were encouraged to starve to death so they might “meet Jesus” in a case that has shaken Kenyans to their core.
In the port city of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, hundreds of supporters of Odero gathered outside the courtroom, some wearing all-white outfits and others red. They were all praying and holding bibles.
Kenyan police had arrested Odero last Thursday over the over shakahola massacre and closed his New Life Prayer Centre and Church that lies south of the coastal town of Malindi.
A total of 110 people have so far been confirmed dead in the Shakahola forest case, the majority of them children.
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