Sorry! Kenyan cult leader who murdered more than 400 people was not sentenced to death, but jailed for 200 years

Makensi (middle, wearing a polo shirt), the leader of the Kenyan hunger cult who was convicted of killing 191 people, was sentenced to 200 years in prison on the 6th.

Paul Mackenzie, the cult leader in Kenya who brainwashed his followers to starve to death and is believed to have tortured and killed more than 400 people, was sentenced to 200 years in prison by the court on the 6th. Although he was not sentenced to death, it was effectively a death sentence.

Makensi was found guilty of murdering 190 children and 1 adult last month. Kenya's Mombasa High Court announced the sentencing on the 6th. He was sentenced to 100 years for murder and 100 years for starvation, for a total of 200 years. Several accomplices who were also convicted last month, including parents who starved their children to death, were also sentenced to long-term imprisonment.

Judge Diana Kavedza scolded the defendant for allowing the children to suffer extreme pain, horrific living conditions and psychological trauma... The children witnessed their siblings falling to the ground and dying, while their parents ate and drank, and some were strangled to death and brutally beaten.

Mackensi, who showed no emotion throughout the trial, remained expressionless when listening to the sentencing.

Although prosecutors had sought the death penalty against Mackensi, the judge believed that the death penalty "would not serve as a deterrent, especially for convicted defendants who see death as a path to heaven and a reunion with Jesus and their deceased children." Although Kenya has the death penalty, it has not been carried out for nearly 40 years.

Through the Good News International Church, Mackenzie incited people to starve to death in order to "meet Jesus." In 2023, mass graves containing hundreds of people were discovered in the forest near the church's stronghold. Official figures put the death toll linked to the Makensi hunger cult at 429, with some still unidentified.