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A Kenyan court is set to deliver a verdict in the murder case against preacher Paul Mackenzie and 29 of his followers, who are accused of killing 191 children, according to the BBC.
The prosecution alleges that the group made children starve to death so they could “meet Jesus”. Mackenzie’s teachings reportedly forbade education and described modern medicine as “evil”. He and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty, repeatedly insisting nobody was forced to die.
Mackenzie’s former head of security, Enos Amanya Ngala, was initially accused in the case but later reached a plea deal and became a prosecution witness. Mackenzie and other leaders also face separate cases involving terrorism, radicalisation and denying children an education. This is the first time the pastor is due to receive a verdict on the murder charges.
Authorities say more than 400 bodies were found in shallow graves in Shakahola forest, near Kenya’s coast, where Mackenzie had led followers from across the country. Seventeen men from a nearby town were hired to dig up the graves; some were paid just $8 (£6) a day.
“Every grave we found had at least three bodies,” gravedigger James told the BBC. He said some remains were those of children only a few weeks old.
“We once found 12 bodies of children in a line inside a grave. It was massive, the bodies were arranged like clothes. One on top of another,” he said.
Gravediggers said some children’s hands and legs had been tied and their bodies wrapped in bedsheets. Some of the remains belonged to people known to the surrounding community: followers sometimes went to nearby Shakahola town for supplies and to collect water from the Galana River, which runs through the town.
“We would sometimes carry people on our motorbikes into the forest,” gravedigger Salim Karisa said. “But it was so planned and secretive that nobody could tell what was happening inside.”
Stephen Mwiti, 48, said he lost all six of his children to the group. When he went to confront Mackenzie, he said, he saw “many bald women and tens of children” around the pastor at his home. Mackenzie had banned make-up and hairstyles, telling women to shave their heads or leave their hair unkempt. Mwiti’s former wife is among those charged alongside Mackenzie.
“If I met Pastor Mackenzie today, one of us will have to die,” Mwiti told the BBC.
Holding a photograph of his family, Mwiti said: “All six of my children died in Shakahola forest. I only found and buried the remains of my son Samuel.” He pointed to a dusty television and cable box in his home in Malindi, a coastal town 70km (43 miles) from Shakahola, saying: “This little thing here was the start of all my misery.” He said Mackenzie’s teachings reached his home through the television.
Mackenzie’s church and move to Shakahola
Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003. Over the following 16 years, the church attracted thousands of followers through branches across Kenya. It operated a television station, Times TV, which broadcast Mackenzie’s 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”. His son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, said he worked as a camera operator for the church. “The children would sit at the back, adults in the middle, and everyone would sing worship songs all morning,” he said.
Mackenzie began his sermons at noon, sometimes including what he called “casting out demons”. The main church closed in 2019, and he moved to Shakahola forest, encouraging his followers to join him.
Peter Shukrani, 23, said his mother moved to Shakahola with him. He had started attending Mackenzie’s church when he was eight and described the preacher as his “spiritual father”, saying he would “never say a bad word about him”.
Shukrani said he became ill in the forest and his condition worsened because medication was banned. “My mother would throw away all the medicine I was supposed to take because she believe that only God could heal me,” he said. He described a community of mud houses scattered through the forest, where people fasted for days before eating a small meal.
By March 2023, when local herders found the first remains, hundreds of people had died, Karisa said. “We would carry someone out of the forest but they were so frail that they would die in our arms.” Shukrani was among the men rescued that month. He had been ill and bedridden for weeks, and said his mother’s rejection of the medicine he needed had made his condition worse.
“I would have died if I wasn’t rescued from Shakahola forest,” Shukrani said.
The 298 pages of charges in the current case identify all 191 alleged victims as children. Many bodies remain unidentified because of their advanced decomposition. Court documents refer to several as “unknown male child”, identifying them by the location of the grave and the date their remains were found.
The alleged deaths involved starvation, strangulation and bludgeoning, according to the case. Despite what he endured, Shukrani said he still considers Mackenzie a good person who cares for him. “Mackenzie didn’t force anyone to fast. People made those choices by themselves because of their beliefs,” he said. “I still love him and he is still my pastor.”
Dan Mackenzie, by contrast, believes his father should be convicted. “He was the leader, he was someone who they were looking [up to]. So he is a murderer of mass killing,” he said.
