Kenyan cult leader gets 200 years for starving 190 children to death

A Kenyan court has sentenced cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to a total of 200 years in prison over the deaths of church members, including 190 children allegedly starved to death on his instructions in the belief that they would meet Jesus, Reuters reported.

The sentence relates to the 2023 Shakahola massacre, in which authorities recovered 429 bodies from a forest in coastal Kenya. Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a self-proclaimed pastor and founder of the Good News International Church, allegedly convinced his followers that the world was approaching its end and that starving themselves would allow them to meet Jesus before the apocalypse.

According to the prosecution, Mackenzie and his associates organised an extreme fasting programme in Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County, coastal Kenya. Followers were instructed to stop eating and drinking, with children allegedly made to fast first, followed by women and men. Investigators found evidence of coercion and violence within the settlement. Followers who refused to fast or attempted to escape were allegedly beaten, restrained or prevented from leaving.

Post-mortem examinations identified starvation as a major cause of death, while some victims also had injuries indicating physical violence. The prosecution argued that the deaths were part of an organised operation rather than voluntary religious fasting.

According to a Kenyan Senate committee report, Mackenzie intensified the recruitment of followers during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. He allegedly used recruitment agents to attract vulnerable people, promised them land and persuaded them to sell their property and hand over the proceeds. The Senate report said Mackenzie chose the remote Shakahola Forest to isolate followers from the outside world. They were allegedly instructed to abandon education, healthcare and government-issued identity documents. The report also documented allegations that an armed group of enforcers was deployed to ensure followers obeyed the fasting orders, with those who resisted or attempted to escape facing violence.