Kenyan Cult Leader Sentenced to 200 Years in Prison Over Deaths of 191 Followers

NAIROBI, Nov 6: A Kenyan court on Friday sentenced controversial cult leader Paul Mackenzie to a total of 200 years in prison over the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, in a religious fasting tragedy that shocked the East African nation.

Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache, delivering the sentence at the High Court in the coastal city of Mombasa, ordered the prison terms to run consecutively.

“The sentences will run consecutively, making an aggregate sentence of 200 years imprisonment for convict Mackenzie,” the judge said.

Mackenzie, a former preacher and leader of the Good News International Church, was sentenced to 100 years in prison for the deaths of 190 children and another 100 years for the death of an adult.

The sentencing followed his conviction on 191 counts of murder in connection with deaths linked to extreme fasting in the Shakahola forest in southeastern Kenya.

Prosecutors accused Mackenzie of manipulating followers into abandoning food and starving themselves and their children, allegedly convincing them that fasting would bring them closer to Jesus Christ.

The case drew international attention after authorities began exhuming bodies from shallow graves in the remote forest in April 2023. Investigators discovered that many of the victims were children, triggering widespread outrage and raising questions over how the deaths had remained undetected for so long.

The tragedy also prompted investigations into religious extremism, the regulation of religious organizations and whether authorities had failed to intervene despite earlier warnings about Mackenzie's activities.