A Kenyan court found the leader of a cult that practiced starvation, Paul Mackenzie, as well as about 30 other people, guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult. The event became one of the most horrific cult-related tragedies in recent world history, UNN reports, citing The Guardian.
Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after police received information to that effect. Within weeks, law enforcement officers began finding bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola Forest, near the coast in southeastern Kenya.
According to prosecutors, Mackenzie and his organization, the "Good News International Church," created an apocalyptic Christian cult. Its followers were ordered to starve themselves and their children — in order to go to heaven before the end of the world.
Mackenzie denied the murder charges, saying that he had not forced the victims to starve, but the court rejected this argument.
More than 400 bodies were discovered in the Shakahola Forest in total. Many of them had undergone severe decomposition, and only 26 could be identified.
The court verdict delivered on Monday concerns 191 deaths, while investigations into the other fatalities are ongoing.
During the court hearing, which lasted more than eight hours, Judge Diana Kavedza Mochache noted that in some cases children were isolated and deprived of food in front of their parents.
Mackenzie himself was present in the courtroom; he was wearing a striped polo shirt and red trousers and was sitting beside his wife, who is also an accused person in the case.
Before the decision was announced, he remained silent, staring blankly.
Relatives of some of those who died in the forest gathered at the Mombasa High Court to hear the verdict.
Sixty-two-year-old Francis Wanje lost eight family members to the cult, including two grandchildren.
Before the verdict was announced, he said: "For our family, this has been a huge burden that has led to serious psychological problems… I had been waiting for this day for a long time."
In addition
The tragedy in Shakahola shook Kenya after mass graves were discovered in the coastal forest more than three years ago. This raised questions about how Mackenzie had managed to continue his activities despite having been on law enforcement's radar since 2017, when police searched his premises. According to police, authorities shut down Mackenzie's church in 2019, after which he moved to the Shakahola Forest.
The case also prompted calls for tighter oversight of churches and other religious organizations in a country where religious faith plays an important role in public life.
Kenyan President William Ruto said in 2023 that government agencies should have prevented these deaths. He added that, as president, he accepted responsibility for what had happened.
People with direct knowledge of the cult's activities said that Mackenzie had planned the mass starvation in three stages: first children, then women and young men, and finally the remaining men.
Some of Mackenzie's followers told Reuters (in a 2023 report) that he — a former taxi driver — prohibited cult members from sending their children to school or seeking medical care when they were ill, calling such institutions "satanic."
The cult members lived in makeshift dwellings built from plastic sheeting and straw. Mackenzie divided the area into zones, giving them biblical names — for example, "Jerusalem" and "Judea."
The dire situation of his followers became known in mid-March 2023, when a local resident reported to police that his brother and sister-in-law, following Mackenzie's orders, had starved their children to death in the forest.
Mackenzie was arrested but later released on bail. According to relatives, after that he moved forward the date of the end of the world that he had previously announced to his followers. In April 2023, police arrested him again, began more systematic searches of the forest, and exhumed bodies from mass graves.
In connection with the deaths in the forest, Mackenzie has also faced other charges, including terrorism-related charges; he himself denies the allegations.
According to prosecutors, while in custody, he also issued instructions that led to the deaths of 52 people in the village of Kwa-Binzaro, located approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Shakahola. Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty in that case.