by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
MOMBASA, KENYA (Worthy News) – A Kenyan court has convicted Paul Mackenzie and 28 other cult leaders of murdering 191 people, all but one of them children, in a religious movement that encouraged followers to starve their children to death so they could “meet Jesus.”
Mackenzie, who falsely claimed to be a Christian pastor, led a religious movement whose followers regarded him as “Jesus’s mouthpiece,” according to Justice Diana Mochache, who delivered the verdict Monday in the coastal city of Mombasa.
The former leader of Good News International Ministries disregarded biblical teachings, preaching instead that education was forbidden, modern medicine was evil, and starvation would bring believers closer to Jesus Christ.
Witnesses testified that followers who resisted fasting could be beaten or forced to comply. The court also heard how parents were instructed to deny food to their children, including newborn babies.
The convictions follow the discovery of more than 400 bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast in 2023, exposing one of the country’s deadliest religious cult tragedies.
FAMILIES DEVASTATED
Among those welcoming the verdict was Stephen Mwiti, who said all six of his children died in the forest. His former wife was among those convicted alongside Mackenzie.
“I’m a happy man, that all persons have been convicted,” he told reporters outside the courtroom.
Mackenzie, who established his ministry in 2003 and later broadcast sermons on his own television station, moved his followers into the remote forest after closing his main church in 2019.
Survivors described a community where medical treatment was discouraged and prolonged fasting became a central religious obligation. Investigators found that some victims died not only from starvation but also from violence.
Mackenzie and his co-defendants had pleaded not guilty, maintaining that nobody was forced to die.
SENTENCING AHEAD
They are due to be sentenced on November 6, while separate legal proceedings involving terrorism, radicalization, and the denial of education to children remain pending.
The verdict has renewed scrutiny of Kenya’s oversight of cults after President William Ruto acknowledged failures by authorities to prevent the deaths.
The tragedy recalls the 1978 Jonestown massacre in Guyana, South America, where 918 people died in events orchestrated by American cult leader Jim Jones, including 304 children and minors. Most victims died after consuming a cyanide-laced drink, while others were murdered.
Both tragedies exposed the deadly consequences of cult leaders exercising extreme control over followers, including parents who participated in the deaths of their own children.
Mackenzie’s lawyer has indicated that he intends to appeal the convictions.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
