Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie made his followers starve themselves to death in order to reach heaven and "meet Jesus". He was linked to more than 400 deaths and was convicted on Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult.
The case of Mackenzie drew global attention and became known as the "Shakahola Forest Massacre," in which hundreds of bodies have been discovered since 2023 at the cult base inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi.
Who is Paul Mackenzie?
Paul Mackenzie, a pastor, is the leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult. He is a former taxi driver-turned-preacher. He was also once a street vendor.
Mackenzie was linked to more than 400 deaths and convicted Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult after ordering followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus.
Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others who helped run a sect connected to Good News International Church in coastal southeast Kenya.
Mackenzie was the leader of the church. He had set up his evangelical Good News International Church in Malindi in 2003.
The church drew thousands of followers across its many branches in Kenya, with devotees also following Mackenzie’s fiery sermons broadcast on the church television station, Times TV.
Mackenzie's apocalyptic teachings
According to the Associated Press (AP), Justice Diana Kavedza ruled that Pastor Paul Mackenzie oversaw an organised system that used religious teachings to compel followers to fast until they died.
The court reportedly found that the directive to fast to death was implemented by targeting children first, while guards were deployed to prevent them from escaping, beating those who attempted to escape or eat.
Mackenzie also told his followers to shun education and healthcare. “Medical treatment was presented as an instrument of Satan," Justice Kavedza was quoted as saying in her ruling on Monday.
He reportedly convinced followers he could speak to God. Some of them are believed to have sold off property to donate to the church, Al Jazeera reported.
Mackenzie was detained in 2019 for opposing the government's efforts to assign national identification numbers to Kenyans, saying the numbers were satanic.
That year, he closed his church premises and took his followers to the ranch in the forest, where they built houses and lived in villages with biblical names like Nazareth, survivors told AP.
The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged his apocalyptic teachings that the end of the world was coming, and he and the sect hierarchy began to enforce stringent fasting, even forbidding parents from feeding their children.
Those who tried to oppose his teachings or leave the forest were beaten, according to survivors. The enforced fasting lasted more than two years
Besides murder charges involving the deaths of 190 children and one adult, Mackenzie and others also face separate manslaughter, terrorism and child torture charges in the deaths of more than 230 others.
About the cult: 'Shakahola Forest Massacre'
According to AP, the sect was uncovered in April 2023 after Mackenzie had closed his church premises in the coastal resort town of Malindi and moved with hundreds of followers inland to the nearby Shakahola Forest.
Police investigating reports of people going missing found emaciated followers and shallow graves spread across a large ranch in the forest.
It took weeks to exhume more than 400 bodies, many of them from mass graves.
For most, starvation was the cause of death in what became known as the Shakahola massacre, but some died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries, according to postmortem reports.
The cause of death for others couldn't be determined because the bodies had decomposed. A small number of victims died soon after being rescued because they were so emaciated.
What's the case?
In 2023, more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves on the 800-acre (320-hectare) Chakama Ranch in coastal Kilifi County, where Mackenzie’s followers lived in mud huts, away from the scrutiny of local communities and authorities.
Mackenzie was arrested and charged with murder alongside his wife and dozens of his followers. Some followers later became prosecution witnesses in the case. The trial began in 2023.
He denied all charges, saying he did not force his followers to fast. His co-defendants in that case also pleaded not guilty.
A mitigation hearing will be held on October 30. Mackenzie and the others face life in prison at their sentencing for the murder convictions, scheduled for November 6.
In April last year, the Court of Appeal allowed the prosecutor to proceed with 191 murder charges against Mackenzie and his co-accused.
In May 2024, the High Court directed prosecutors to reduce the murder charges to no more than 12 counts. However, the Court of Appeal ruled that the law does not limit the number of charges that can be brought against a defendant.