Paul Mackenzie receives 200-year prison sentence in Kenya over mass child deaths

A Kenyan court has sentenced cult leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for the murders of 191 people, overwhelmingly children, who perished in an isolated forest camp during a forced starvation regime.

Mackenzie, the head of the Good News International Church, received the sentence on Friday at the Mombasa High Court along with more than two dozen co-defendants. The term includes 100 years for the deaths caused by starvation and an additional 100 years for individuals killed through direct homicide.

Presiding judge Lady Justice Diana Kavedza explained that capital punishment was avoided because executing the convicts might reinforce their belief that dying would unite them with Jesus, undermining the deterrent effect of the punishment. She added that keeping the convicts alive leaves open the possibility that they could assist investigators in finding the remains of children who are still missing.

Court records revealed that 183 of the 191 victims succumbed to starvation, including 182 children and a single adult. Eight other victims, all of them children, were beaten, strangled, or suffocated. In total, 161 of the young victims were aged nine or under, while others were teenagers or had unknown ages.

Mackenzie had instructed his congregation to leave their homes and relocate to Shakahola Forest in eastern Kenya, preaching an apocalyptic message that the world would end in August 2023. According to a parliamentary inquiry, his doctrine dictated that children should die first, followed by youths and women, while men were expected to bury the dead before dying themselves.

The court heard that armed enforcers kept followers trapped in the forest encampment, blocking any escape attempts. Children who tried to find food or flee were restrained, denied sustenance, and punished. Survivors told investigators that deaths within the camp were celebrated as spiritual weddings to Jesus, with victims revered as heroes.

Investigators began unearthing graves in the forest in April 2023, eventually exhuming more than 400 bodies. While Friday's convictions addressed 191 specific deaths, additional charges connected to the wider mass casualties may still proceed through the justice system.