A Kenyan religious leader, Paul Mackenzie, has been found guilty of murder in connection with the deaths of 191 people, most of them children, following an alleged system of forced fasting and abuse in eastern Kenya.
Mackenzie and about 30 co-accused were convicted by the Mombasa High Court on Monday over the deaths linked to the Shakahola forest tragedy, which prosecutors have described as one of Kenya’s most significant criminal cases.
According to Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the court established that Mackenzie’s followers were subjected to an organised system in which religious teachings and a strict hierarchy were used to enforce deadly fasting.
Prosecutors said the fasting began with children, while guards reportedly restricted the movement of followers and prevented them from escaping. The court also heard that Mackenzie discouraged his followers from accessing modern medicine and formal education.
Mackenzie, who led the Good News International Church, was accused of persuading followers to starve themselves and their children to death in the belief that doing so would allow them to reach heaven and meet Jesus.
He and his co-accused were charged in 2024 after authorities began exhuming bodies from the forest, where investigators alleged the group operated a death cult.
The exhumations began in April 2023, and authorities have so far recovered 429 bodies. Investigations are ongoing, and further charges could be brought.
During a ruling that lasted more than eight hours, Justice Diana Kavedza explained how Mackenzie allegedly used sermons and written materials to convince followers that the outside world was evil and that salvation could only be achieved by relocating to the forest.
Evidence recovered from Mackenzie’s phone, including WhatsApp messages, reportedly showed that he communicated with followers before they abandoned their homes, families and livelihoods to move to Shakahola.
The court also heard disturbing accounts of children being restrained, denied food and punished when they attempted to eat or escape the fasting regime.
Post-mortem findings presented during the proceedings indicated that some victims died from suffocation, neck compression and head injuries, rather than starvation alone.
However, Mackenzie’s lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, said the defence intended to appeal the verdict. He maintained that his client had not forced anyone to fast and argued that the victims had acted voluntarily.
The convictions have brought renewed attention to the families who lost loved ones in the tragedy.
Rodgers Shibutse, a Nairobi resident whose mother’s remains were among those recovered from the forest in February 2024, said Mackenzie had caused his family immense suffering. He expressed hope that the religious leader would receive a life sentence.
Mackenzie and his co-accused are expected to be sentenced on November 6.
Asked whether the verdict would bring justice for his mother, Shibutse said it would not deliver complete justice but acknowledged that the government had taken action.
