Kenya cult leader convicted of murdering 190 children, one adult
Photo: REUTERS
The court convicted self-proclaimed preacher Paul Mackenzie and 28 associates on Monday for murdering 190 children and one adult as part of a notorious Christian starvation cult in Mombasa, Kenya.
Mackenzie established his so-called Good News International Church in 2003, and allegations stated that he incited his followers to starve themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus.”
Authorities arrested Mackenzie in April 2023 after a rights group informed them about his activities. While rescuers saved some of his acolytes, a subsequent police operation exposed hundreds of mass graves at a forest site near the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi. Local media dubbed the case the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”.
Following a hearing that lasted over eight hours, Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache said, “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.”
Prosecutors added that Paul Mackenzie initiated and directed extreme fasting at his 800-acre (325-hectare) ranch in Shakahola Forest, maintaining a structured hierarchy of death under which children were scheduled to die first, followed by teenagers, women, and finally men.
They noted that post-mortems and police reports revealed the children mostly died from starvation, as well as from asphyxia, neck compression, and traumatic head injury. The court also learned that perpetrators isolated children and denied them food while their parents watched in certain instances.
Francis Wanje, 62, who lost eight family members at Shakahola, including his daughter and two grandchildren, remarked to the AFP news agency, “This is a very, very important day. We are expecting a ruling that will be a lesson to the whole public, so that such kinds of things will not happen again.”
Since the initial discovery of the graves, search teams have unearthed additional bodies of children, women, and men, pushing the overall death toll to well over 400. The rising count forced authorities to implement sporadic pauses in excavations when local morgues ran out of space.
In January 2026, prosecutors filed additional charges against Paul Mackenzie concerning 52 more bodies discovered at a nearby village.
Public figures and citizens in Kenya have called for tougher regulations on religious organizations after revelations emerged that law enforcement had arrested Paul Mackenzie twice in the past before releasing him.
Authorities had arrested him in 2017 on charges of “radicalization”, though he won an acquittal, and law enforcement arrested him again in 2019 regarding two child deaths at Shakahola, but he secured release on bail. The court will hold his sentencing on 6 November.
Source: DW (adapted)
