肯亞父親在絕食邪教領袖量刑前，仍受子女之死折磨

傑佛遜・卡欣朱、尼爾森・阿魯亞與艾德溫・奧科斯報導By Jefferson Kahinju, Nelson Aruya and Edwin Okoth

肯亞馬林迪，11月5日（路透）—— 肯亞絕食邪教領袖保羅・麥肯齊（Paul Mackenzie）週五將因謀殺190名兒童和1名成人被判刑；史蒂芬・姆維蒂（Stephen Mwiti）和其他受害者親屬擔心，他可能會繼續散播致命訊息。MALINDI, Kenya, Nov 5 (Reuters) - When Kenyan starvation cult leader Paul Mackenzie is sentenced on Friday for the murders of 190 children and an adult, Stephen Mwiti and other relatives of the victims will be worrying he may continue spreading his deadly messages.

姆維蒂說，他的6名子女全都死在沙卡霍拉森林（Shakahola Forest），他的妻子2022年帶他們前往那裡。檢方表示，麥肯齊命令信徒讓自己和子女餓死，以便在世界末日前上天堂；這起事件成為近代史上最嚴重的邪教相關悲劇之一。Mwiti says all six of his children died in the Shakahola Forest, where his wife took them in 2022. Prosecutors said Mackenzie ordered followers to starve themselves and their children to death to go to heaven before the world ended, in what became one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history.

姆維蒂說，他希望如果麥肯齊和共同被告遭判入獄，能被單獨監禁，以免他們影響其他囚犯；共同被告包括姆維蒂的妻子。Mwiti said he hoped that Mackenzie and his fellow defendants, who include Mwiti's wife, would be held in solitary confinement if they were jailed, so they could not influence other prisoners.

48歲的姆維蒂本週在海濱城市馬林迪探望兒子山繆（Samuel）的墳墓時告訴路透：「就算他被絞死，我也永遠不會再見到我的孩子。」"Even if he were to be hanged, I will never see my children again," Mwiti, 48, told Reuters this week while visiting his son Samuel's grave in the coastal city of Malindi.

山繆進入森林時約7歲，他是姆維蒂子女中唯一能確認遺骸身分的人。許多受害者遺體嚴重腐爛，官員只能確認從森林中尋獲的400多具遺體中26具的身分。Samuel, who was around seven years old when they entered the forest, was the only one of Mwiti's children whose remains could be identified. Many of the victims' bodies were severely decomposed, with officials only able to confirm the identities of 26 of the more than 400 bodies recovered from the forest.

邪教領袖的信徒繼續宣揚他的理念CULT LEADER'S FOLLOWERS CONTINUED TO PROMOTE HIS IDEAS

麥肯齊與28名共同被告上月被判謀殺罪成立。他們可能面臨死刑，儘管肯亞已數十年未執行死刑。Mackenzie and 28 co-defendants were convicted last month of murder. They could face the death penalty, although Kenya has not executed anyone in decades.

多數被告否認指控，包括姆維蒂的妻子在內；麥肯齊則說，他沒有強迫任何人絕食。姆維蒂說，這種說法毫無道理。Most of the defendants, including Mwiti's wife, denied the charges and Mackenzie said he did not force anyone to starve, an argument that Mwiti said made no sense.

姆維蒂說：「假設他所轉化的成年人同意在沒有被強迫的情況下禁食，那孩子呢？驗屍結果甚至顯示……山繆是被勒死的。那也是出於自願嗎？」"Assuming the adults he had converted agreed to fast without being forced, what about the children? The post mortem even revealed that … Samuel died after being strangled. Was that also by will?" Mwiti said.

麥肯齊被逮捕後，官員表示，他的信徒仍繼續宣揚他的理念。After Mackenzie was arrested, officials said his followers continued to promote his ideas.

去年，當局在附近一座村莊又發現數十具遺體，並認為這些遺體與麥肯齊的邪教有關。Last year, authorities discovered dozens more bodies in a nearby village, which they linked to Mackenzie's cult.

父親緊抱對孩子的回憶FATHER HOLDS ON TO MEMORIES OF HIS CHILDREN

在最後一次見到孩子4年後，他們的缺席仍折磨著姆維蒂。Four years after he last saw his children, Mwiti is haunted by their absence.

姆維蒂說：「我下班後看到孩子，會嚇一跳。有時候，有個孩子長得太像我的其中一個孩子，會讓我震驚。」"When I leave work and come across children, I get startled," Mwiti said. "At times, a child looks so much like one of my children that it shocks me."

在墓園裡，山繆葬在一座木十字架下。姆維蒂拿著孩子們的照片，以及他原本希望能和他們一起下葬的部分舊校服。At the cemetery, where Samuel is buried beneath a wooden cross, Mwiti held photographs of his children and some of their former school uniforms that he had hoped to bury with them.

他說：「這些就是我剩下的所有回憶。」"These are all the memories I have left," he said.

（傑佛遜・卡欣朱與尼爾森・阿魯亞報導；文森特・穆莫・恩齊拉尼撰稿；亞倫・羅斯與菲莉帕・弗萊徹編輯）(Reporting by Jefferson Kahinju and Nelson Aruya; Writing by Vincent Mumo Nzilani; Editing by Aaron Ross and Philippa Fletcher)