A Kenyan court has sentenced the leader of a doomsday cult, Paul Mackenzie, to 200 years in prison for murdering 191 people, all but one of them children.
Alongside 28 others, Mackenzie was found guilty of the murders for instructing members of his cult to starve their children to death so they could “meet Jesus”.
Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie bore the “primary criminal culpability” for ordering his followers to fast to death, in one of the world’s deadliest episodes of cult activity.
“The sentence is appropriate and just, to send an unmistakable message that such atrocities warrant the maximum penalties allowed by law,” the judge added.
The self-styled pastor was arrested in 2023 after the discovery of more than 400 bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near the Kenyan coast. The sprawling investigation into the cases shocked Kenya and drew international attention.
The court sentenced Mackenzie to 100 years in prison for homicide and another 100 years for offences related to starvation.
The sentences within each category will run concurrently, but the two sets will run consecutively, bringing his total prison term to 200 years.
Mackenzie also faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges, which he denies.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that the scale and circumstances of the killings warranted the harshest punishment.
However, Justice Mochache declined to impose the death penalty, despite ruling that the case met the threshold for its consideration.
“Nevertheless, the court declines the invitation to impose the death penalty on any of the victims,” she said, adding that capital punishment would eliminate any prospect of rehabilitation and disengagement. The death sentence has not been carried out in Kenya since 1987.
Mackenzie was tried alongside 28 accomplices, including guards who enforced his fasting orders and gravediggers who helped conceal the victims’ bodies in mass graves.
They received varying prison sentences of up to 160 years.
Justice Mochache described the killings as “cold and calculated”, saying the perpetrators had shown no remorse and had even declared their willingness to fast to death themselves.
Before the hearing began on Friday morning, Francis Wanje, who lost eight relatives including two grandchildren in Shakahola forest, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that he was “hoping for… a sentence which will match his [Mackenzie’s] deeds in the forest”.
Mackenzie and the co-accused had asked for leniency from the court.
Before their conviction on 19 October, they had all pleaded not guilty and repeatedly insisted that nobody was forced to die.
Mackenzie’s followers believed he was “Jesus’s mouthpiece”, Justice Mochache said as she delivered her eight-hour judgement last month.
Those who opposed Mackenzie’s teachings were beaten to death.
One of his co-accused said he had told his followers that anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows”.
Burials inside the forest where the cult was based were called “weddings” and those who died “were celebrated as having wedded with Jesus” the judge said.
The judge found that the deaths arose from an organised system, including religious teachings and directives that compelled followers to follow the deadly fasting.
Post-mortem results showed the cause of deaths to be starvation for most victims, while others died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries.
The cause of death could not be determined for some, with their bodies having decomposed, while others died soon after their rescue as they were so emaciated.
The Shakahola deaths have shone a spotlight on the lack of oversight of rogue religious activities and how they could have carried on for so long.
The gravity of the case prompted President William Ruto to set up a commission of inquiry, although this was later declared unconstitutional.
Investigations by the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) revealed that local administration and law enforcement officials had repeatedly turned a blind eye to the cult’s activities.
“We expected at that time the police would take action immediately to go and rescue the other members there, but it didn’t happen,” said Wanje, who reported the case to the police in March 2023.
Wanje said a relative of his in the police force and a former cult participant had managed to save his grandson at the time. The child told the police what had happened and showed them the grave of his siblings.
“It was [supposed to be] his last day.. they [would have killed] my grandson.”
The cult leader had previously been arrested and later released for lack of evidence.
Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003.
Over the next 16 years, the church grew in popularity, drawing thousands of followers in its branches across Kenya.
The church ran a television station called Times TV which would broadcast his sermons from his church in Malindi.
His End Days sermons included conspiracy theories that described education as “evil”, healthcare as “against the doctrine” and digital identity cards as “the mark of the devil”.
The main church shut down in 2019 and Mackenzie moved to Shakahola forest, encouraging his devotees to follow him.
While the conclusion of the murder cases may bring a sense of justice for the victims and their families, the convictions only account for 191 victims, while more than 400 bodies were exhumed from the forest.
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