Kenyan Court Jails Shakahola Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie for 200 Years

GOOBJOG NEWS | MOMBASA: A Kenyan court has sentenced self-proclaimed preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for the murder of 191 people, including 190 children, in the Shakahola forest killings that shocked the country and drew international attention.

The High Court in Mombasa handed down the sentence on Friday, with Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache ruling that Mackenzie bore primary responsibility for directing followers of his Good News International Church to starve themselves and their children in the belief that they would meet Jesus.

Mackenzie received a 100-year prison term for deaths linked to starvation and another 100 years for murder by direct violence. The sentences will run concurrently within each category but consecutively between the two categories, resulting in an aggregate term of 200 years.

Twenty-eight co-accused were also sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 160 years for their roles in the killings. They included individuals who enforced the fasting orders and helped conceal bodies in graves.

The judge described the killings as calculated and said the punishment was intended to send a clear message that such crimes would attract the maximum penalties permitted by law.

Prosecutors had asked the court to impose the death penalty, arguing that the scale and circumstances of the killings justified the harshest possible punishment. However, Mochache declined, saying capital punishment would remove the possibility of rehabilitation and disengagement.

Kenya retains the death penalty in law but has not carried out an execution since 1987.

The sentencing follows Mackenzie’s conviction on October 19, when the court found him and the 28 others guilty of all 191 murder counts. The judge rejected the defence argument that followers had voluntarily chosen to fast to death, finding that the deaths resulted from an organised system of religious indoctrination, coercion and violence.

The case came to light in April 2023 after authorities began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola Forest, in Kilifi County. More than 400 bodies have since been recovered from the area, although the murder trial and Friday’s sentences covered 191 victims.

Investigators found that followers had been encouraged to abandon food and other basic needs as part of an extreme religious doctrine. Those who resisted the orders were subjected to beatings and other forms of violence, according to evidence presented in court.

Post-mortem examinations established starvation as a major cause of death, while other victims died from injuries and other forms of violence.

The discoveries prompted nationwide scrutiny of religious organisations and raised questions about how the group operated for years despite previous reports and interventions by authorities.

Mackenzie, who founded Good News International Ministries in 2003, had previously been arrested but was released. His sermons reportedly discouraged formal education and medical treatment and promoted apocalyptic beliefs.

He also faces separate legal proceedings linked to other alleged offences, which he has denied.