Kenyan Court Sentences Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 Years for Mass Murders in Shakahola Forest

Paul Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, founded the Good News International Church in 2003 in Malindi, Kenya. He promoted an apocalyptic ideology that rejected modern medicine and formal education as satanic. Kenyan authorities closed his church in 2019. Mackenzie moved his operations to a 325-hectare ranch in the Shakahola Forest. He instructed followers to starve themselves and their children to "meet Jesus" before the end of the world.

A rights group alerted authorities to the situation in April 2023. Police discovered emaciated survivors and shallow graves at the site. Investigations confirmed that hundreds of people died between January 2021 and September 2023 in the Shakahola Forest.

1. Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache sentenced Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison on November 6, 2026, for the murders of 190 children and one adult. The court divided the sentence into 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years for direct homicide.

2. The court also sentenced 28 of Mackenzie's accomplices to prison terms for their roles in the deaths. Assistant pastor Smart Mwakalama received a 160-year prison sentence in that group.

3. Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache presided over the sentencing hearing, which lasted more than eight hours. During the proceedings, the court noted that in some instances, children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched. Le Monde reported that approximately 120 prosecution witnesses testified during the trial, which concluded with the convictions on October 19, 2026.

4. Justice Kavedza-Mochache rejected the prosecution's request for the death penalty. She stated that the punishment fails to deter convicts who view death as a pathway to heaven. Kenya has not executed a prisoner since 1987. The death penalty remains in the country's legal code.

1. Defense lawyer Lawrence Obonyo appealed the sentencing. He argued that the 160-to-200-year terms are constitutionally unattainable. Obonyo stated the ruling was "circling around the constitution to give a sentence that is unattainable."

2. Mackenzie faces separate, ongoing trials for manslaughter and terrorism charges involving the deaths of more than 200 people. Mackenzie denies these additional allegations. He also contests the murder charges that resulted in his recent sentence.

3. Authorities have identified 26 of the more than 400 bodies recovered from Shakahola Forest. Severe decomposition hindered the identification of the remaining victims.

4. Authorities arrested Mackenzie twice before 2023, but they released him each time.