Kenyan preacher Paul Mackenzie and 28 co-defendants were found guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult in one of the world’s deadliest cult-related tragedies in recent history, a Mombasa court ruled Monday.
Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after police received a tip. Within weeks, investigators began finding bodies in shallow graves scattered through Shakahola Forest, near Kenya’s southeastern coast.
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Prosecutors said Mackenzie and members of his Good News International Church ran a Christian doomsday sect that instructed followers to starve themselves and their children so they could reach heaven before the predicted end of the world.
The case has held Kenya’s attention since the mass graves were discovered, prompting widespread questions about how Mackenzie continued operating despite having come to the authorities’ attention in 2017, when police searched his premises.
Police said authorities closed his church in 2019, after which Mackenzie moved his activities to Shakahola Forest.
Grandfather hails judgement
Mackenzie denied the murder allegations and maintained that he had not forced anyone to stop eating. The court rejected his defense.
The 29 convicted defendants are due to be sentenced on Nov. 6. Defence lawyer Lawrence Obonyo, who represents Mackenzie and nearly all of the other defendants, said he had received instructions to appeal the verdict.
Francis Wanje, 62, lost eight relatives, including two grandchildren, in the tragedy. Speaking to Reuters, he said the judgment brought him happiness and strengthened his faith in the judiciary.
“So many are going to learn from what has come up today. … You find churches everywhere, but they’ve got ill reasons for the churches. So it is good for members of the public to be very careful,” Wanje said.
Long hearing
More than 400 bodies have now been recovered from Shakahola Forest.
The remains of many children were severely decomposed, and only 26 have been identified. Investigations into the other deaths are continuing.
Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache delivered the ruling after a hearing that lasted more than eight hours. In some cases, she said, children were isolated and deprived of food while their parents watched.
Renson Ingonga, Kenya’s director of public prosecutions, told reporters outside the Mombasa High Court that the ruling was “the best judgment we would ever get.”
Mackenzie silent
Mackenzie attended the hearing wearing a striped polo shirt and red trousers. He sat beside his wife, who is also among the co-defendants.
When the judge read out his name, Mackenzie remained silent and stared into space.
The case has intensified demands for stricter oversight of churches and other religious organizations in Kenya, where faith occupies a prominent place in public life.
President William Ruto said in 2023 that government agencies should have been capable of stopping the deaths. He said he accepted responsibility as the country’s president.
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