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One of the 30 suspects being held together with the Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie over the deaths of more than 300 people who were told to starve themselves to death if they wanted to go to heaven, has died in custody.

 

The deceased had been in police custody for more than 60 days while the Kenyan criminal investigations investigators continued with the probe and exhumation of bodies around Shakahola forest on the outskirts of Malindi in coastal Kenya, where police first discovered bodies in April.

 

A prosecutor in the Mackenzie case, Jami Yamina, informed the Mombasa court on Wednesday that the deceased identified as Joseph Juma Buyuka was among the Mackenzie followers who had staged a 10-day hunger strike while in custody.

 

“The [Mackenzie] aide had declined to eat and drink while being held at Watamu Police Station,” Yamina told Al Jazeera. “He died two days ago. Complications were from hunger strike and starvation, but we will await a postmortem report.”

 

Buyuka reportedly died on Monday from hunger-related complications while undergoing treatment in a nearby Malindi Hospital.

 

The prosecutor added that the autopsy report would be presented to the court after the postmortem is conducted.

Two other suspects, Evans Sirya and Fredrick Karimi, who were also admitted on the same day, were still critically ill in the same hospital.

 

“We [the state] shall file a medical report on their progress with the court within a week. After the postmortem on Buyuka is concluded, we shall also produce the report,” he told the court.

 

Together with 15 other suspects, Buyuka appeared in court emaciated and unable to stand or walk. The investigating officer informed the court at the time that the suspects had staged a hunger strike.

 

In Kenya, suspects are held in cells at police stations until they are arraigned in court. Last week, the prosecution team asked the court that the sixteen suspects be moved from the police station cells to a government prison where they would be force-fed food. The request was granted.

When they appeared in court last week, Buyuka, Karimi, Sirya and two others promised the Shanzu Senior Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda that they would resume eating and cooperate with the police, a court official told Al Jazeera anonymously.

 

On Wednesday, the judge asked the prosecutor to present a medical report of all the 30 suspects in custody today.

 

The tragic incident of mass starvation has resulted in a death toll of 336 individuals thus far. During the 10-day third phase of the exhumation process, which took place from June 6 to June 16, authorities recovered the remains of at least 93 individuals.

 

Efforts to rescue survivors and retrieve the deceased are ongoing and being conducted in stages. The local morgues are overwhelmed, exceeding their capacity, which has necessitated a phased approach to conducting postmortems and transferring bodies.

 

The commencement of the third phase of postmortem examinations on the bodies already unearthed from the expansive 325-hectare (800-acre) Shakahola forest was scheduled for Wednesday.

 

The government-led rescue operation was initiated on April 13 following reports of two children who tragically starved and suffocated to death at the hands of their parents, allegedly under the guidance of Mackenzie. Mackenzie, who heads the Good News International Church, is implicated in what government officials have described as a "massacre." He stands accused of indoctrinating his followers, urging them to renounce worldly life and assemble at his farm in the village of Shakahola in Kilifi county for a fasting ritual "to meet Jesus," resulting in the loss of numerous lives.

 

While starvation appears to be the primary cause of death, the chief government pathologist, Johansen Oduor, has revealed that some victims, including children, were subjected to acts of strangulation, physical assault, or suffocation.