A self-proclaimed Kenyan preacher and his associates were found guilty on Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult in an infamous starvation cult.
Hundreds of bodies have been discovered since 2023 at the
cult base inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi, in what became known
as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”.
Paul Mackenzie was alleged to have incited his acolytes to
starve to death in order to “meet Jesus”.
He was impassive in the open-air Mombasa courtroom as he and
28 others were found guilty of murder.
“I am satisfied that the prosecution has proved the case
against all the 29 accused persons for the murder of 190 children and one
adult,” Diana Kavedza Mochache, the judge, said.
The office of the director of public prosecutions welcomed
the “momentous” verdict, with director Renson Ingonga telling reporters:
“Getting a conviction of such counts…is not something that comes that easily”.
In the three years since the grisly discovery, more bodies
of children, women and men have been unearthed, bringing the total to well over
400.
Mackenzie has also denied charges of manslaughter and
terrorism in separate cases.
Some relatives of the victims were in court, but few managed
to make their way to Mombasa from rural communities along the coast.
Francis Wanje, 62, lost eight family members, including his
daughter and two grandchildren, in Shakahola.
While he was “happy” over the verdict, he said the loss of
his family remained “very painful, it’s very heavy”, placing his hand over his
heart.
“I know that my people will not come back again, but at
least something has happened,” he said, expressing surprise at the verdict
after years of waiting and after initial government inaction.
There have been calls in Kenya for tougher regulations on
religious organisations after it emerged that Mackenzie had been arrested twice
in the past but released.
Mackenzie’s estranged son Dan, 24, present at the court for
the ruling, briefly expressed his “relief” over the verdict.
“Justice has happened to the victims,” he said.
Over multiple hours, the judge painstakingly took the court
through the numerous charges.
The prosecution had said Mackenzie “initiated and directed”
extreme fasting at his 800-acre (325-hectare) ranch in Shakahola Forest,
claiming there was a “structured hierarchy of death” which said children should
die first, followed by teenagers, women, and then men.
Starvation was established as the cause of death in 72
cases; additional deaths from asphyxia, manual neck compression and traumatic
head injury were also recorded.
While the cause of death for 110 bodies was “unascertained”,
thanks to severe decomposition, the court ruled it could be inferred that these
victims also died from starvation, citing circumstantial evidence.
The court found that Mackenzie’s church had the defining
features of a cult, noting its members had been radicalised through principles
including isolation and domination, while breaking intimate family ties, which
saw mothers starve their own children.
“That, in my final analysis, is the evil of radicalisation,”
Mochache said.
“That which was once unthinkable becomes an act of
obedience, and what was once instinctive becomes sin.”
Lawrence Obonyo, Mackenzie’s defence lawyer, called the
verdict “perplexing” and said his clients were “surprised, and they are
disappointed”.
He intended to appeal, he said, adding: “We have so much
confidence that the verdict will be overturned.”
Sentencing is expected on November 6.
Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023, after a rights group
tipped off authorities and some followers were rescued.
The subsequent police operation exposed hundreds of shallow
mass graves, with a soaring death toll that required a pause in excavations as
local morgues ran out of space.
The Kenya national commission on human rights said in 2024
that the death toll was 429. Some victims are still unidentified.
In January, Mackenzie was charged over a further 52 bodies
found at a nearby village.
The self-styled pastor has a history of extremism and evaded
law enforcement for years.
He established the Good News International Church in 2003,
and set up branches in Nairobi and along Kenya’s coast that attracted thousands
of devotees, though he claimed it closed in 2019.
He was arrested in 2017 over charges of “radicalisation” but
was acquitted. He was arrested again in 2019 in relation to two child deaths at
Shakahola, but was released on bail.
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