A self-proclaimed Kenyan preacher and his associates were on Monday found guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult in an infamous starvation cult.
There have been calls in Kenya for tougher regulations on religious organisations after it emerged that Mackenzie had been arrested twice in the past but was released. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie was alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus. Over multiple hours, judge Mochache painstakingly took the court through the numerous charges.
He was impassive in the open-air Mombasa courtroom as he and 28 others were found guilty of murder. Starvation was established as the cause of death in 72 cases, additional deaths from asphyxia, manual neck compression and traumatic head injury were also recorded.
Hundreds of bodies have been discovered since 2023 at the cult base inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi, in what became known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”. Mackenzie’s estranged son, Dan, 24, present at the court for the ruling, briefly expressed his “relief” over the verdict. “Justice has happened to the victims,” he said. The prosecution had said Mackenzie “initiated and directed” extreme fasting at his 800-acre (325 hectare) ranch in Shakahola Forest, claiming there was a “structured hierarchy of death” which said children should die first, followed by teenagers, women, and then men. thanks to severe decomposition, the court ruled it could be inferred that these victims also died from starvation, citing circumstantial evidence While the cause of death for 110 bodies was “unascertained”.
The court found that Mackenzie’s church had the defining features of a cult, noting its members had been radicalised through principles including isolation and domination, while breaking intimate family ties — which saw mothers starve their own children. “That which was once unthinkable becomes an act of obedience, and what was once instinctive becomes sin. Francis Wanje, 62, lost eight family members, including his daughter and two grandchildren, in Shakahola. Sentencing is expected on November 6.
he said the loss of his family remained “very painful, it’s very heavy”, placing his hand over his heart While he was “happy” over the verdict. “I know that my people will not come back again, but at least something has happened,” he said, expressing surprise at the verdict after years of waiting — and after initial government inaction. “That, in my final analysis, is the evil of radicalisation,” judge Mochache said. Mackenzie’s defence lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, called the verdict “perplexing” and said his clients were “surprised, and they are disappointed”. He intended to appeal, he said, adding: “We have so much confidence that the verdict will be overturned.
Case Exposed
Mackenzie has also denied charges of manslaughter and terrorism in separate cases. Some relatives of the victims were in court, but few managed to make their way to Mombasa from rural communities along the coast. The subsequent police operation exposed hundreds of shallow mass graves, with a soaring number of deaths that required a pause in excavations as local morgues ran out of space. Some victims are still unidentified. The self-styled pastor has a history of extremism and evaded law enforcement for years.
In the three years since the grisly discovery, more bodies of children, women and men have been unearthed, bringing the total to well over 400. Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023, after a rights group tipped off authorities and some followers were rescued. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said in 2024 that the deaths were at 429. In January, Mackenzie was charged over a further 52 bodies found at a nearby village. He established the Good News International Church in 2003, and set up branches in Nairobi and along Kenya’s coast that attracted thousands of devotees, though he claimed it closed in 2019. He was arrested again in 2019 in relation to two child deaths at Shakahola, but released on bail. (This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
“I am satisfied that the prosecution has proved the case against all the 29 accused persons for the murder of 190 children and one adult,” Judge Diana Kavedza Mochache said. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions welcomed the “momentous” verdict, with director Renson Ingongatelling reporters: “Getting a conviction of such counts…is not something that comes that easily. He was arrested in 2017 over charges of “radicalisation” but was acquitted.
