Kenyan cult preacher convicted of 191 murders

Guards beat followers who tried to eat or escape, with children targeted first under a deadly fasting regime, the court found A Kenyan court has convicted preacher Paul Mackenzie of murdering 190 children and one adult by forcing them to starve to death to “meet Jesus,” in a massacre that President William Ruto described as “akin to terrorism.” Justice Diana Kavedza delivered the verdict in Mombasa on Monday, finding Mackenzie and 28 co-defendants guilty on all 191 murder counts.

The court found that his Good News International Church used religious teachings and a hierarchy of village elders to organize and enforce fatal fasting in Shakahola Forest in coastal Kilifi County.

“Mackenzie’s followers were first whipped through an established religious and communications network.

They were subsequently directed to relocate.

Once at the settlement, they were directed to fast,” Justice Kavedza said.

The judge found that children were targeted first, while guards beat followers who tried to eat or escape.

Mackenzie also instructed believers to reject schools and healthcare, according to the ruling.

READ MORE: Dozens more bodies exhumed in ‘starvation cult’ case Sentencing is scheduled for November 6.

Mackenzie denied forcing followers to fast.

His lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, called the verdict “perplexing” and said the defense intends to appeal.

Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023 after police rescued emaciated followers in Shakahola Forest, where investigators subsequently uncovered hundreds of bodies in shallow graves.

Postmortem examinations showed that some victims died from suffocation, strangulation, or head injuries.

Others were too badly decomposed for a cause of death to be established.

A total of 429 bodies were recovered from graves in Shakahola Forest, according to a 2024 report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.