Kenya Cult Leader Convicted of Killing 191 People by Starvation
Paul Mackenzie was found guilty of ordering followers to starve themselves and their children to death so they could enter heaven before the world ended.
KEY POINTS
- Paul Mackenzie convicted of murdering 191 people, mostly children
- Followers were ordered to starve themselves and their children to reach heaven
- More than 429 bodies were exhumed from the Shakahola forest in 2023
- Twenty-nine other church leaders were convicted of murder
- Sentencing is scheduled for November 6
A Kenyan court convicted Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, of murdering 191 people, nearly all of them children.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie ordered followers to starve themselves and their children, promising they would reach heaven before the end of the world.
“He ordered followers to starve their children so they could go to heaven before the end of the world.”
The victims were buried in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest near Kilifi, where authorities exhumed more than 429 bodies during excavations in 2023. Followers lived in isolated settlements across about 800 acres of forest.
Twenty-nine other church leaders were also convicted of murder. Mackenzie, a former taxi driver who called himself a prophet, faces sentencing on November 6 and is also facing separate charges of terrorism, radicalization, and depriving children of education.
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