A Mombasa High Court in Kenya on Monday convicted Paul Mackenzie, a Christian cult leader in his early 50s, who preached doctrines that starved 190 children and one adult to death, performing burials he described as “weddings” to Jesus.
Judge Diana Kavedza-Mochache found Mr Mackenzie, who founded the Good News International Church, guilty of convincing his followers to starve their children, claiming that was the only way they could “meet Jesus.”
“The evidence identifies him as the principal source of the doctrine under which fasting was transformed from an act of religious observance into a prescribed route to death,” Ms Mochche said. “Where starvation did not produce death, the children were killed by hand.”
The court heard that “Fasting was implemented sequentially, beginning with children, while guards controlled movement and prevented followers from escaping.”
The cult leader also banned followers from taking medications and acquiring formal education.
The court also found 30 associates guilty and set a sentencing date for November 6.
A witness testified that the mother of a newborn was not allowed to breastfeed her newborn, which caused the baby to die 12 days after birth.
“She was instructed to fast to death and follow her children,” the witness testified.
Children and anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows,” the court heard.
The police arrested Mr Mackenzie in 2023 after exhuming over 400 mangled bodies of children and adults buried in shallow graves at the Shakahola forest where Mr Mackenzie had forced his followers to dwell.
Each grave had at least three bodies that showed tied hands and compressed necks.
“Every grave we found had at least three bodies,” James, who was among the gravediggers, told the BBC. “Some of the remains were of children as young as a few weeks old.”
“We once found 12 bodies of children in a line inside a grave. It was massive; the bodies were arranged like clothes. One on top of another,” he said.
Autopsy results showed some of the children and adults were bludgeoned and suffocated to death.
“Mackenzie didn’t force anyone to fast. People made those choices by themselves because of their beliefs,” Shukrani, his loyal follower, said before the verdict was announced. “I still love him, and he is still my pastor.”
Mr Mackenzie’s lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, said his team would appeal the ruling. He maintained that his client was innocent, arguing that he had not coerced anyone into fasting to death.
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