A court in Kenya has found “starvation” cult leader Paul Mackenzie guilty of murder over the deaths of 191 people.
The Mombasa Law Court announced on Monday that the self-proclaimed pastor and dozens of his associates were guilty of the murder of 190 children and one adult.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie and his Good News International Church organised a Christian doomsday sect in which they ordered followers to starve themselves and their children to death, so they could go to heaven before the world ended and “meet Jesus”.
Police arrested Mackenzie in 2023 after receiving a tip-off. After some weeks, authorities began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola Forest near the coast in southeastern Kenya.
Mackenzie insisted that he did not force the victims to starve, but that was dismissed by the court.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty and denied charges in other cases, including terrorism, radicalisation, and stopping children from attaining an education.
The court said Mackenzie and others convicted in the case will be sentenced on November 6.
More than 400 people died in the Shakahola tragedy, according to Kenyan authorities, making it one of the country’s deadliest cult-related disasters.
Investigations uncovered mass graves and evidence of severe malnutrition, triggering nationwide scrutiny of religious extremism and the government’s failure to detect the group’s activities earlier.
In three years since the discovery of the bodies was made, there have been calls for the government to impose tougher regulations on religious organisations. It has emerged that Mackenzie was arrested twice in the past but then released.
The prosecution said Mackenzie “initiated and directed” extreme fasting at his 800-acre (325 hectare) ranch in Shakahola Forest.
They said there was a “structured hierarchy of death” which said children should die first, followed by teenagers, women, and then men.
Family of the victims who died in the forest came to hear the verdict at the Mombasa court.
Francis Wanje lost eight family members including two grandchildren to the cult.
“It has been really a heavy thing (for) us as a family, and it has really taken us very far in terms of psychological problems,” the 62-year-old said.