A Kenyan court on Monday convicted self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie and 28 co-defendants of murder in connection with the Shakahola Forest massacre, a doomsday starvation cult that left more than 400 people dead, the majority of them children.
High Court Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache delivered the verdict after an eight-hour hearing, finding that the prosecution had proven the case against all 29 accused persons for the murders of 190 children and one adult.
“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, contrary to Section 203 of the Penal Code,” Justice Kavedza-Mochache said in delivering the ruling.
The court rejected the defense argument that the victims had voluntarily fasted to death, with the judge noting that all the child victims were under the age of 16 and could not legally consent to such practices .
The judge held that “a parent has no legal entitlement to determine that a child should die in pursuit of a religious belief”.
Mackenzie, who founded the Good News International Church, was accused of instructing his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so they could “meet Jesus” before the world ended.
Prosecutors described a “structured hierarchy of death” in which children were to die first, followed by teenagers, women, and finally men.
The court heard that Mackenzie deliberately misinterpreted biblical teachings to convince followers that starvation was a path to salvation. Burials inside the forest were referred to as “weddings,” and the deceased were celebrated as having “wedded with Jesus”.
One co-accused testified that Mackenzie told followers anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows”.
His doctrine also forbade education and modern medicine, which he characterized as “evil” and “an instrument of Satan”.
The case came to light in March 2023 when a local man reported concerns about starving children to police. A subsequent multi-agency operation uncovered hundreds of shallow graves in Shakahola Forest near the coastal town of Malindi. Authorities recovered 429 bodies during exhumation phases, though many remain unidentified due to advanced decomposition.
Forensic evidence established starvation as the cause of death in 72 cases, while others died from asphyxia, neck compression, and traumatic head injuries. Child survivors testified they were denied food and water despite supplies being available, and some described watching their siblings die.
Relatives of victims gathered at the Mombasa High Court to hear the verdict. Stephen Mwiti, who lost all six of his children to the cult, spoke outside the court.
“I’m a happy man, that all persons have been convicted,” Mwiti told the BBC. “All six of my children died in Shakahola forest. I only found and buried the remains of my son Samuel”.
Francis Wanje, 62, who lost eight family members including two grandchildren, told Reuters before the ruling: “It has been really a heavy thing for us as a family, and it has really taken us very far in terms of psychological problems… I was hoping for this particular day”.
Mackenzie and his co-accused are scheduled to be sentenced on November 6. Mackenzie still faces separate charges of manslaughter and terrorism, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors also allege he directed the deaths of 52 people in Kwa Binzaro village while in detention, approximately 30 kilometers from Shakahola.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions welcomed the verdict. Director Renson Ingonga told reporters: “Getting a conviction of such counts… is not something that comes that easily”.
