Kenyan Court Sentences Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 Years for Deaths of 191

A Kenyan High Court in Mombasa sentenced Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, to 200 years in prison on Friday for the murders of 191 people, 190 of them children.

Justice Diana Kavedza imposed 100 years for murders by starvation and another 100 years for direct homicide. The sentences run consecutively. Mackenzie led followers to the Shakahola forest in Kilifi County, where more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves in 2023.

Prosecutors said Mackenzie ordered followers to starve themselves and their children to reach heaven before an apocalypse. Guards prevented escapes and beat those who tried to eat. Of the 191 victims in this case, 183 died of starvation, including 182 children. Eight died by direct homicide. One hundred sixty-one victims were aged 9 or younger. Twenty-two were between 10 and 13, and five were between 14 and 16. Ages of two others could not be established.

The court convicted Mackenzie and 28 accomplices last month after a trial that examined the systematic nature of the deaths. Their sentences range from 10 to 160 years. Mackenzie denied forcing anyone to starve, claiming followers acted of their own will. The court rejected that defence. His lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, said he will appeal.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights estimated 429 bodies recovered from the 800-acre Chakama Ranch. Many remain unidentified. More than 60 were identified and reburied by relatives. Mackenzie faces separate charges for additional deaths, terrorism, manslaughter, child abuse and torture in other courts. Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987, so the term functions as life imprisonment. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

The investigation began after a rights group alerted authorities in 2023. Followers lived in mud huts away from local communities. Men were expected to bury the dead before dying themselves. Some children showed signs of suffocation. Some bodies appeared buried alive. The judge noted the state failed after authorities missed repeated warning signs since 2017.

The ruling closes one chapter of the investigation into the mass deaths but leaves open questions about how authorities missed repeated warnings and what happens to the remaining unidentified remains and missing children of the convicted. Defence arguments that the followers chose the path freely did not persuade the court, which found Mackenzie bore primary criminal culpability for relocating the group and enforcing the fast.

This case ranks among the deadliest cult-related mass killings in modern times. The sentences aim to deter similar exploitation of religious belief. Relatives of victims have described the conviction as offering some relief after years of uncertainty. The appeal process will now determine whether the term stands.