Kenya: Cult leader Paul Mackenzie sentenced to 200 years in prison

In Kenya, a court punished self-proclaimed preacher Paul Mackenzie with 200 years in prison after the murder of 190 children and young people and one adult. Mackenzie wanted his cult's followers to starve in order to "meet Jesus." The court in Mombasa imposed prison sentences of between 10 and 100 years on 28 co-defendants. The defendants had already been found guilty in October. Those convicted now have two weeks to file an appeal.

In spring 2023, investigators came across mass graves in a remote forested area on the coast. They discovered 400 bodies, many badly decomposed. Autopsies revealed that many of the people had starved to death.

The case sparked a heated debate in Kenya about the control of religious communities. The vast majority of the approximately 59 million inhabitants are Christian. In addition to the large churches, there are numerous free churches and independent religious communities. In total, around 40,000 religious organizations were registered in 2023, including Muslim and other non-Christian communities. According to government figures, almost 60 applications to register additional churches are received every month.

Leaders should be the last to die

Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, founded the Good News International Church in the early 2000s. In his sermons he railed against education and modern medicine. He persuaded his followers that the end of the world was imminent. Survivors reported being told that suffering and dying were the only way to Jesus.

Hundreds of believers eventually followed him into the remote forest where he had leased hundreds of acres of land. They lived there in settlements with biblical names such as Bethlehem, Galilee and Judea.

According to testimony in court, there was a cruel hierarchy of deaths: first the children were supposed to starve, then unmarried women and finally the men. The cult leaders should be the last to die. Mackenzie himself is said to have promised his followers that he would be the last to "close the earthly door" after they ascended to heaven.

According to witnesses, anyone who did not keep the fast or search for food was beaten. Mothers would have had to watch as their children became weaker and weaker and eventually died. In some cases they are said to have enforced their children's fasting themselves. Investigators described a strict system with deputies, security guards, cooks and gravediggers.

The horror was uncovered through tips from relatives who were looking for missing family members. Salvage work after the first finds brought more and more bodies to light.

The prosecution had demanded the death penalty

The prosecution had demanded the death penalty for Mackenzie. The court rejected that. The defense, however, had argued for a maximum prison sentence of ten years. At trial, the defendants insisted that the people had fasted voluntarily. Mackenzie had his lawyers explain that he and the other defendants were themselves victims of the tragedy and had also lost children and property.

After more than 120 witness statements, the court found it proven that the defendants were intentionally responsible for the deaths of 190 children under the age of 16, including newborns and toddlers, as well as one adult between January 2021 and September 2023. Mackenzie and most of his co-defendants showed no remorse.