Kenya: Shakahola cult leader Paul Mackenzie sentenced to 200 years

The High Court in Mombasa has sentenced Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, to 200 years' imprisonment for the murder of 190 children and one adult in the starvation cult that became known as the Shakahola Forest Massacre.

The court imposed 100 years for the homicide charges and a further 100 years for the starvation charges. Twenty-eight co-accused, convicted alongside him in October, received lengthy prison terms. Mackenzie's lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, said an appeal had already been lodged.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, citing the scale of the loss of life. Although Kenyan law provides for capital punishment, no execution has been carried out since 1987.

The former taxi driver was arrested in April 2023 after a rights group alerted the authorities and some followers were rescued from the 325-hectare ranch in Shakahola forest, inland from Malindi. Prosecutors said he had incited his followers to starve themselves to death in order to "meet Jesus", under a hierarchy in which children were to die first. Witnesses testified that the movement denounced formal education as "satanic" and rejected modern medicine. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights put the total death toll at 429 in 2024; some victims remain unidentified. Mackenzie also faces manslaughter and terrorism charges in separate proceedings.

Reactions among bereaved families were mixed. Suleiman Ziro, who lost his wife and six children, travelled 120 kilometres to attend. "Of importance to me is to know where my family members disappeared," he said. Francis Wanje, a teacher who lost two grandchildren, said nothing could ease the pain and criticised the authorities for failing to act sooner.

The case has renewed calls for tighter regulation of religious organisations; Mackenzie had been arrested twice before and released.