A Kenyan preacher has been found guilty of 191 murder charges after forcing followers to starve themselves and their children so they would die and enter heaven to be with Jesus.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others who helped run a sect connected to his Good News International Church in coastal south-east Kenya.
Mackenzie and his helpers used religious teachings and a church hierarchy to enforce "deadly fasting" on followers after setting up a community in a forest, a judge said in her ruling on Monday, local time.
Paul Mackenzie enforced deadly fasting on his followers and their children. (AP: Brian Wachira)
The murder charges involved the deaths of 190 children and one adult.
Mackenzie and others face life in prison at their sentencing, scheduled for November 6.
While Kenya has the death penalty, the country has not executed anyone since 1987.
Capital punishment has been left to the judge's discretion since 2017, when the country's Supreme Court ruled mandatory death penalties for murder were unconstitutional.
Paul Mackenzie appearing in a Kenyan court in April 2023. (AP Photo)
Mackenzie and others also face separate manslaughter, terrorism and child torture charges over the deaths of more than 230 others.
He has denied all charges, saying he did not force his followers to starve themselves. His co-defendants have also pleaded not guilty.
The sect was discovered in a forest in 2023
The sect was uncovered in April 2023 after Mackenzie 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 missing people found followers suffering from extreme hunger, and shallow graves spread across a large ranch in the forest.
Body bags laid out in the village of Shakahola, where dozens of followers of Paul Mackenzie were found in shallow graves. (AP Photo)
More than 400 bodies were dug up over three weeks, many from mass graves. Most had starved to death in what became known as the Shakahola massacre.
Some also died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries, according to post-mortem reports.
For others, the cause of death could not be determined due to decomposition of the bodies. A small number of victims died soon after being rescued because they were so emaciated.
Former taxi driver turned preacher
Mackenzie is a former street vendor and taxi driver who set up his evangelical Good News International Church in Malindi in 2003.
His preaching included opposition to formal schooling, some medicines and vaccinations.
He was detained in 2019 for opposing government efforts to assign national identification numbers to Kenyans, calling the numbers satanic.
That year, he closed his church premises and took his followers to the forest ranch, where they built houses and lived in villages with biblical names like Nazareth, according to survivors.
Paul Mackenzie started his own church in Malindi before shutting it down in 2019 and moving into the forest with some followers. (YouTube)
The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged his apocalyptic teachings, and he and the cult hierarchy began to enforce strict fasting that even forbade parents from feeding their children.
Those who opposed his teachings or tried to leave were beaten, survivors said.
Enforced fasting lasted more than two years
In delivering her guilty verdict, high court judge Diana Kavedza said evidence showed the cult had encouraged and enforced fasting as a way to enter heaven, starting with children.
She said it began in January 2021 and lasted more than two years before authorities discovered what was happening.
Kenya Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki (centre, in a white shirt), inspects graves in Shakahola. (AP Photo)
Mackenzie and his co-accused were formally charged in February 2024. Prosecutors presented evidence from 123 witnesses, including children who were caught up in the sect.
Two other defendants facing murder charges died during the prosecution.
AP