Kenyan cult leader sentenced to 200 years in prison over the deaths of 190 children

By Nimi Princewill, CNN

(CNN) — A Kenyan cult leader has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murder of 191 people, all but one of them children, in a campaign of abuse and forced fasting.

Paul Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International Church, was sentenced Friday alongside more than two dozen others at the Mombasa High Court.

Mackenzie’s sentencing comprised of 100 years’ imprisonment for the murder of those who starved and 100 years for those who died by direct homicide.

In her sentencing remarks, Lady Justice Diana Kavedza said 161 of the victims were children aged 9 or younger. Twenty-two were between 10 and 13 years old, and five were between 14 and 16. The ages of two others could not be established. She also said that several of the convicts’ children remained missing and were presumed dead.

Kavedza said 183 of the 191 victims died from starvation, including 182 children and one adult. The remaining eight victims, all children, were suffocated, strangled or beaten to death.

Mackenzie had persuaded followers to abandon their homes and move to Shakahola Forest, in eastern Kenya, promising that fasting there would bring them closer to God and prepare them for heaven.

The court found that religious teachings were used to enforce the fast. Guards controlled followers’ movements and prevented them from leaving. Those who resisted were forced to comply, while children were restrained, denied food and punished when they tried to eat or escape.

Mackenzie’s teachings were largely based on doomsday and end-times beliefs, a Kenyan Senate report into the deaths found. He preached that the world would end in August 2023, and followers were told to fast to “meet Jesus,” with children scheduled to die first, followed by young people and women. Men were expected to stay alive long enough to bury the bodies before dying.

Mackenzie was convicted of murder last month. In her ruling, Kavedza described how he used sermons and written materials to convince followers that the outside world was evil and that salvation could only be found in the forest. Messages extracted from his phone, including WhatsApp exchanges, showed that he had communicated with followers before they’d moved to Shakahola Forest.

Survivors also testified that deaths in the forest were celebrated as “weddings to Jesus,” with those who died regarded as “heroes of faith,” Kavedza said.

Postmortem findings cited by the judge showed that starvation was not the only cause of death. Some victims died from suffocation, neck compression or head injuries.

Authorities began exhuming bodies from Shakahola in April 2023 after reports that people had died while following Mackenzie’s teachings. They have recovered 429 bodies so far. The 191 murder convictions relate to the victims in the case decided last month, while further charges could follow.

Rodgers Shibutse, a Nairobi resident who identified his mother’s remains among those exhumed in February 2024, told CNN after the sentencing Friday: “I cannot say that I am 100% satisfied. It (the verdict) is not enough to pay for the life of my mum, but we have no other choice. At least, he (Mackenzie) cannot finish the 200 years in jail and will die eventually.”

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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