Kenya Cult Leader Guilty of 191 Murders After Ordering Parents to Starve Their Children to Death to ‘Meet Jesus’

A self-proclaimed Kenyan pastor who informed his fans to starve their kids so they might ‘fulfill Jesus’ has actually been condemned of 191 murders. All however among his victims were kids.

Paul Mackenzie was founded guilty at the High Court in Mombasa on Monday, 19 October, along with 28 other leaders of his Good News International Ministries. They are because of be sentenced on 6 November.

The offenders had actually pleaded innocent and preserved throughout the trial that no one was required to pass away. Mackenzie was apprehended in April 2023, after numerous bodies were found in shallow tombs in Shakahola forest, near the Kenyan coast, where he had actually moved his fans. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights put the death toll at 429 in 2024.

news How Parents Were Told to Starve Their Children

Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache, who took 8 hours to provide her judgment, stated Mackenzie’s fans concerned him as ‘Jesus’s mouth piece’. The court discovered that he developed a belief system that turned down education and modern-day medication, advised fans to cut themselves off from society and led them to transfer to the forest.

According to the BBC, one co-accused stated Mackenzie informed fans that anybody who ‘withstood the regulation to quickly should be required to go to paradise through kicks and blows’. A witness explained a pregnant lady who was disallowed from nursing her newborn, who passed away 12 days later on. ‘She was advised to quickly to death and follow her kids’, the witness stated.

District attorneys stated Mackenzie set out a ‘structured hierarchy of death’ under which kids were to pass away initially, followed by teens, ladies and after that guys. Burials in the forest were called ‘wedding events’, and those who passed away ‘were commemorated as having actually wedded with Jesus’, the judge stated.

news Judge Rejects Claim the Victims Chose to Fast

The defence had actually argued that fans fasted of their own free choice. In her judgment, Justice Kavedza Mochache stated: ‘I am pleased that the prosecution has actually shown the case versus all the 29 implicated individuals for the murder of 190 kids and one grownup.’

Forensic proof developed hunger as the cause of death in 72 cases, while other victims passed away from asphyxia, manual neck compression or head injuries. The cause of death for 110 bodies might not be figured out since of innovative decay, however the court ruled it might presume from the scenarios that they, too, passed away from hunger.

The judge likewise held that kids might not lawfully grant being starved. ‘A moms and dad has no legal privilege to figure out that a kid ought to pass away in pursuit of a religion’, she stated, according to Kenya’s Citizen Digital.

The court discovered that Mackenzie’s church had the specifying functions of a cult, with members radicalised through seclusion and supremacy, which it broke close household bonds, leading moms to starve their own kids.

Mackenzie’s attorney, Lawrence Obonyo, called the decision ‘difficult’ and stated his customers were ‘shocked, and they are dissatisfied’. He prepares to appeal, including: ‘We have a lot self-confidence that the decision will be reversed.’

news Households Left Divided by the Verdict

Stephen Mwiti, 48, lost all 6 of his kids to the cult, and his previous other half was amongst those founded guilty. ‘I’m a pleased guy, that all individuals have actually been founded guilty’, he informed the BBC outside court.

Before the decision, holding a household photo, he stated: ‘All 6 of my kids passed away in Shakahola forest … I just discovered and buried the remains of my child Samuel.’ Numerous victims have actually still not been recognized, and court files note numerous just as ‘unidentified male kid’.

Mackenzie’s separated kid, Dan, 24, stated ahead of the judgment that his dad was ‘a killer of mass killing’. After the decision, he revealed relief. ‘Justice has actually occurred to the victims’, he stated, according to AFP.

Others stay devoted. Peter Shukrani, 23, was saved from the forest after his mom got rid of the medication he required, yet he still safeguards the preacher. ‘Mackenzie didn’t require anybody to quickly’, he stated before the decision. ‘I still enjoy him and he is still my pastor.’

news What Happens Next for Paul Mackenzie

Monday’s judgment is the very first time Mackenzie has actually dealt with a decision on murder charges. He still deals with different cases including terrorism, radicalisation and rejecting kids an education. In January 2026, he was likewise charged over a more 52 bodies discovered at a neighboring town. He has actually rejected murder and terrorism charges in different cases.

Renson Ingonga, the director of public prosecutions, called the decision ‘memorable’. The case has actually triggered hire Kenya for harder policy of spiritual organisations, after it emerged that Mackenzie had actually been jailed two times in the past and launched.

For households like Mr Mwiti’s, the conviction brings responsibility, though lots of are still waiting to recognize and bury their dead. Sentencing is due next month.