A Kenyan court has sentenced religious leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for his role in the deaths of 190 children who were allegedly starved to death on his instructions in Shakahola Forest.
Justice Diana Kavedza announced the sentence on Friday, handing Mackenzie 100 years for murder through starvation and another 100 years for direct homicide.
Prosecutors told the court that Mackenzie, who led an apocalyptic Christian group near Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, instructed his followers to stop eating and impose the same practice on their children as part of a religious exercise intended to prepare them for the end of the world.
His associates allegedly used threats and physical violence to force members to comply with the instructions, particularly those who refused to participate.
Investigators later recovered the victims’ remains from shallow graves and latrines across Shakahola Forest. Evidence also indicated that some victims had been buried alive.
Mackenzie, who appeared in a grey polo shirt and black trousers, reportedly smiled as he arrived at the temporary courtroom where the proceedings took place.
He had denied the murder allegations, maintaining that he did not force anyone to starve. However, the court rejected his defence and found him guilty.
The case attracted international attention in April 2023 when Kenyan police began uncovering bodies in Shakahola Forest, near the coastal town of Malindi.
Although the trial covered the deaths of 190 children and one adult, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported that 448 bodies had been recovered from the forest.
Mackenzie is also facing separate charges over the deaths of 52 people whose remains were discovered at another location in a village about 30 kilometres away. The additional cases bring the suspected death toll linked to the group to approximately 500.
He has pleaded not guilty to the separate charges.
The Shakahola deaths have drawn comparisons with other mass-casualty incidents involving religious groups, including the 2000 massacre in Uganda, where more than 700 people died, and the 1978 Jonestown massacre in Guyana, in which more than 900 people were killed after an American cult leader directed his followers to drink poison.
Stephen Mwiti, a 48years old father who lost six children to the group and whose wife was among Mackenzie’s convicted associates, said his children were taken to Shakahola and starved to death.
Speaking to Reuters before the sentencing, Mwiti questioned why children had been subjected to the practice, even if adults had willingly chosen to fast.
He described the loss of his children as irreversible and expressed hope that Mackenzie would receive a punishment that would prevent him from causing further deaths.
Dan Mackenzie, one of the preacher’s sons, also said his father had failed to spare members of his own family from the group’s teachings.
He told Reuters that he escaped the tragedy because he had stopped believing in the church’s teachings about reaching heaven and decided to leave.
Dan added that he lost friends and a younger brother in the incident, describing the sentence as justice for those who died.
Authorities had reportedly been aware of Mackenzie’s activities since 2017, when police first searched his premises.
In 2019, officials shut down his church in Malindi, prompting him to relocate his activities to the nearby Shakahola Forest.
The discoveries sparked widespread criticism of the government’s oversight of religious organisations and renewed calls for stricter regulations to prevent the exploitation of religious beliefs.
In May 2023, President William Ruto established a task force to review Kenya’s legal and regulatory framework governing religious institutions.
Separate government-backed and Senate proposals were subsequently released in 2024, but they have yet to become law.
Ojiro Odhiambo, head of rapid response at the Kenya Human Rights Commission, described the conviction as an important step towards justice but called for wider accountability.
He said local administrators, police officers, intelligence officials and religious leaders should also be held accountable for failing to act on repeated warning signs before the tragedy unfolded.
Odhiambo criticised the institutions involved, saying their failure to intervene contributed to the loss of lives.
In 2023, President Ruto acknowledged that the government had failed to prevent the deaths and accepted responsibility as the country’s leader.
Goodness Anunobi
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