Kenya Cult Leader Sentenced to 200 Years for Mass Starvation Murders
A Kenyan court sentenced Pastor Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for murdering 191 people after ordering followers to starve to meet Jesus.
POLICY WIRE — Mombasa, Kenya — The leader of a Kenyan apocalyptic sect linked to over 400 deaths received a 200-year prison sentence on Friday for murdering 191 individuals.
The High Court in the coastal city of Mombasa delivered the verdict for Pastor Paul Mackenzie. He was found guilty of killing 190 children and one adult after instructing his followers to cease eating until they encountered Jesus.
Justice Diana Kavedza ruled that Mackenzie, the head of the Good News International Church, held the primary criminal culpability for moving his congregation to a remote area and demanding they fast until they died.
Mackenzie faced murder charges alongside 28 other followers. This group included guards who enforced the fasting orders and gravediggers who assisted in hiding mass graves. While 28 of the accused denied the allegations, one individual confessed and asked for a lighter sentence.
On October 19, the court held all 29 defendants responsible for the deaths of the 191 victims.
In 2023, authorities unearthed more than 400 bodies from shallow graves on the 800-acre Chakama Ranch in Kilifi County. Mackenzie’s followers lived there in mud huts, intentionally isolated from local residents and government oversight.
While more than 60 bodies were identified and reburied by families, a significant number of the deceased remain unclaimed and unidentified.
During the sentencing proceedings, Justice Kavedza noted that 183 victims succumbed to starvation—total deprivation of food—while the remaining eight were classified as direct homicides.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
