Shakahola deaths: Kenyan preacher convicted on 191 murder counts
· BehindLines newsroom
A court in Mombasa found Kenyan preacher Paul Mackenzie guilty on Monday, 19 October, of murdering 191 people, including 190 children. Prosecutors said he had persuaded members of his Good News International Church to fast to death, along with their children, so they could meet Jesus before what he claimed was the approaching end of the world. The BBC and Al Jazeera report that 28 other leaders of the group were also convicted. Sentencing is scheduled for 6 November.
An eight-hour judgment
Justice Diana Mochache rejected Mackenzie's argument that he had forced nobody to starve. The court heard how children were kept apart and deprived of food while their parents watched. His teachings portrayed schooling and medical treatment as evil. Burials in the forest were described within the group as weddings with Jesus. A former security chief who had initially been charged became a prosecution witness after reaching a plea agreement.
Hundreds of bodies recovered
The case began to emerge in March 2023, when a local resident told police that relatives had allowed their children to die of starvation in Shakahola forest, near Kenya's coast. Investigators subsequently exhumed more than 400 bodies from shallow graves. Many were so badly decomposed that identification proved impossible. Monday's ruling concerns 191 deaths; investigations into the remaining cases continue.
Earlier warnings
The Guardian reports that Mackenzie had been known to the authorities since 2017. His church was shut in 2019, before he moved to the forest. In 2023, President William Ruto acknowledged that state agencies should have prevented the deaths. The disaster renewed debate about oversight of religious organisations in Kenya.
Mackenzie faces additional proceedings, including terrorism-related charges and a separate case involving 52 deaths in a nearby village. He denies those allegations. The murder verdict does not resolve these other cases.