Cult leader arrested on 191 murder charges, allegedly told parents to starve their children

A Kenyan preacher who allegedly encouraged followers to starve themselves and their children in the belief that they would reach heaven has been found guilty of 191 murder charges, according to ABC News Australia⁠. Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others accused of helping run a religious sect linked to his Good News International Church.

The case stems from the Shakahola massacre, in which hundreds of people died after joining Mackenzie’s community in a forest in coastal Kenya. In her ruling, High Court Judge Diana Kavedza said the preacher and his associates used religious teachings and a church hierarchy to enforce what prosecutors described as “deadly fasting.”

The murder charges involve the deaths of 190 children and one adult who were part of the cult. Mackenzie and his co-defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on November 6 and could face life imprisonment. The preacher has denied the allegations against him, maintaining that he did not force his followers to starve themselves.

Witnesses came forward

The investigation began after Mackenzie closed his church premises in the coastal town of Malindi and moved with hundreds of followers to the nearby Shakahola Forest. In April 2023, police investigating reports of missing people discovered severely malnourished survivors and shallow graves scattered across a large ranch.

More than 400 bodies were eventually recovered, many from mass graves. While starvation was identified as the cause of death in many cases, post-mortem examinations also found evidence of suffocation, strangulation, and head injuries. Some victims died shortly after being rescued because they were so severely emaciated, while decomposition made it impossible to determine the cause of death in other cases.

Mackenzie, a former street vendor and taxi driver, founded his evangelical church in Malindi in 2003. His teachings included opposition to formal schooling, certain medicines, and vaccinations. In 2019, he was detained after opposing the government’s efforts to assign national identification numbers to Kenyans, which he reportedly described as satanic.

After closing his church premises that year, Mackenzie moved his followers to a forest ranch where they established villages with biblical names, including Nazareth. Survivors later described an increasingly strict religious hierarchy in which followers were expected to obey the preacher’s teachings.

According to evidence presented in court, the fasting practices began in January 2021 and continued for more than two years before authorities intervened. Those who walked into the cult and survived said parents were forbidden from feeding their children, while people who resisted the instructions or attempted to leave the community were allegedly beaten.

Mackenzie and his co-defendants were formally charged in February 2024. Prosecutors presented testimony from 123 witnesses, including children who had been caught up in the sect. Two other defendants facing murder charges died during the proceedings.

The latest convictions are part of a wider set of legal proceedings connected to the deaths. Mackenzie and others also face separate manslaughter, terrorism and child torture charges relating to more than 230 additional deaths. They have denied those charges.

Francis Warje lost eight family members to the crime. He said, “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 … I was hoping for this particular day,” as reported by The Guardian.⁠