Shakahola massacre: Kenyan doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie sentenced to 200 years for murder of 190 children, 1 adult

Paul Mackenzie, the self-proclaimed pastor behind Kenya's Shakahola Forest starvation cult, was sentenced to 200 years in prison on Friday (Nov 06) for the murder of 191 people. Notably, 190, i.e, all but one of Mackenzie's victims, were children. He was sentenced alongside more than two dozen co-accused at the Mombasa High Court.

Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International Church, had persuaded followers to abandon their homes and move to Shakahola Forest in eastern Kenya, promising that fasting there would bring them closer to God and prepare them for heaven.

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Good News International Church: The shocking scale of the killings

Mackenzie was convicted last month of murdering 190 children and one adult between January 2021 and September 2023, together with 28 co-accused. His lawyer said he would appeal. He also faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges, which he denies.

Hundreds of bodies have been recovered since 2023 at the sect's base near the coastal resort of Malindi, in what became known as the Shakahola Forest Massacre. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights put the death toll at 429 in 2024, and some victims remain unidentified.

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Prosecutors had sought the death penalty

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had urged the court to impose capital punishment, citing the scale of the loss of life. "The prosecution supports the imposition of capital punishment for Mackenzie, subject to consideration of his mitigation, remorse, regret and prospects of rehabilitation," Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina said this week. Prosecutors also asked for life imprisonment for the co-accused, arguing they had been deeply indoctrinated by Mackenzie and were at risk of reoffending.

Kenya's law provides for the death penalty, but the country has not carried out an execution since 1987.

Shocking details of cult life come to light

Around 120 prosecution witnesses testified during Mackenzie's trial. According to their accounts, the movement denounced formal education as "satanic", treated modern medicine and hospitals as instruments of the devil, and required followers to cut themselves off from the outside world.

Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023 after a rights group alerted authorities and some followers were rescued from the 325-hectare ranch in the Shakahola forest. The former taxi driver appeared indifferent as he arrived in court on Friday, wearing a polo shirt and sporting a faint smile.