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A Kenyan court is sentencing doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie after convicting him of murdering 191 people, all but one of them children, according to the BBC.
Mackenzie and 27 others were found guilty of the murders. Prosecutors said he had instructed members of his cult to starve their children to death so they could “meet Jesus”.
Prosecutors argued for the death penalty for Mackenzie, citing the gravity of the crimes and what they described as his lack of remorse. They requested life sentences for his co-accused. Mackenzie and the others formally asked the court for mercy and leniency.
All of the defendants had pleaded not guilty before their convictions on 19 October, repeatedly saying that nobody had been forced to die.
Judge describes organised system behind deaths
Justice Diana Mochache said last month, while delivering an eight-hour judgment, that Mackenzie’s followers believed he was “Jesus’s mouthpiece”. People who opposed his teachings were beaten to death.
One co-accused said he had told followers that anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows”. The judge said burials in the forest where the cult was based were called “weddings”, and those who died “were celebrated as having wedded with Jesus”.
Mochache found that the deaths resulted from an organised system of religious teachings and directives that compelled followers to take part in deadly fasting.
Post-mortem examinations found that most victims died of starvation. Others died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries. In some cases, the cause of death could not be determined because the bodies had decomposed; other victims died soon after being rescued because they were severely emaciated.
More than 400 bodies found in Shakahola forest
Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after more than 400 bodies were discovered in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near Kenya’s coast. The investigation shocked the country and drew international attention.
The deaths drew attention to a lack of oversight of rogue religious activities and how they could continue for so long. President William Ruto set up a commission of inquiry in response to the gravity of the case, but it was later declared unconstitutional.
An investigation by the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights found that local administration and law enforcement officials had repeatedly turned a blind eye to the cult’s activities. Mackenzie had previously been arrested and later released for lack of evidence.
Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003. Over the next 16 years, the church grew in popularity, attracting thousands of followers through branches across Kenya. It operated a television station called “Times TV”, which broadcast his sermons from his church in Malindi.
His End Days sermons included conspiracy theories describing education as “evil”, healthcare as “against the doctrine” and digital identity cards as “the mark of the devil”. The main church closed in 2019, after which Mackenzie moved to Shakahola forest and encouraged his followers to join him.
The murder convictions account for 191 victims, while more than 400 bodies were exhumed from the forest. Mackenzie and other cult leaders also face other cases, including charges related to terrorism, radicalisation and denying children an education.
