Pastor who ordered forced starvation of children found guilty of murder of 191 people

Paul McKenzie, the head of a sect in Kenya, has been convicted of murdering 191 people. His eldest son says that his younger siblings were being forced to fast even two weeks ago.

27-year-old Dan McKenzie said that he informed the police. Police rescued eight children, including their five younger siblings, from their grandmother's house and took them to a rescue centre.

"He was forced to fast. He was not given food for about three days," he told the BBC's Newsday programme.

On Monday, his father was found guilty of murdering 191 people.

These people died of hunger in the Shakahola forest near the Kenyan coast. Among them, 190 were children and one adult.

Paul McKenzie ordered members of his cult to starve themselves and their children to death so they could "meet Jesus".

28 other leaders of the sect were also convicted of murder.

Dan McKenzie initially defended his father. He said that at first he could not understand the allegations against his father. But during the court proceedings they came to know how horrifying it was.

"When I was 12 years old, I was forced to fast for about a week," says Dan. He also remembers that in his childhood, church members used to beat him for hours for attending prayer meetings.

Now he is trying to remove his brothers and sisters from that sect. For this he had to complain against those family members who still believed in the teachings of that sect. "I had to complain to my grandmother," he says.

According to the teachings of the cult leader, education was forbidden and modern medicine was considered "bad".

"I left school at the age of seven," says Dan.

Now living in the coastal city of Malindi, Dan drives a motorcycle taxi to support himself and his younger siblings.

He told that some people of the city were angry with him because of his father's crimes. But some others "accepted him because he had distanced himself from that life."

"I hope this decision will provide some comfort to those who have lost friends and relatives," Dan told the BBC's Newsday programme.

Delivering her eight-hour verdict in the port city of Mombasa, Judge Diana Mochache said McKenzie's followers believed he was a "messenger of Jesus".

A co-accused in the case told the court that McKenzie had said that anyone who refused to fast should be "kicked and punched" to heaven.

The judge said that in the forest where the sect existed, the process of burying dead bodies was called "shaadi". Those who died were seen as "marrying Jesus".

McKenzie and other leaders of the sect are also facing trial in separate cases related to terrorism, radicalization and depriving children of education.

This verdict in the murder case is the first verdict on the most serious allegations against this priest named Mnkeji. He was arrested in 2023 after more than 400 bodies were found in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest near the Kenyan coast.

He will be sentenced on 6 November.