Kenyan court sentences starvation cult leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years
A Kenyan court has sentenced Paul Mackenzie, the leader of a church whose followers died of starvation, to 200 years in prison for the murder of 190 children and one adult. Al Jazeera reported that Justice Diana Kavedza pronounced the sentence on 6 November 2026.
The total is made up of two parts: 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years for direct homicide. Twenty-eight people convicted alongside him, who were described as his accomplices, were also given prison terms of various lengths.
Mackenzie led the Good News International Church. According to Al Jazeera, the church ordered its followers to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven and "meet Jesus" before the world ended.
Mackenzie denied the murder charges. He said he did not force victims to starve, but a court in Mombasa rejected his defence.
The case dates to 2023, when police arrested Mackenzie after receiving a tip-off. Investigators then uncovered the bodies of victims in Shakahola Forest, near the coast in south-eastern Kenya. Kenyan authorities say more than 400 people died in what they call the Shakahola tragedy.
