Kenyan cult leader gets 200 years for starving followers to death

Pastor Paul Mackenzie, the head of a Kenyan religious group, will spend the next two centuries in prison for the starvation deaths of his followers. On Friday, the High Court in Mombasa sentenced him to 200 years behind bars for the murder of 191 people, including 190 children. The ruling marks the conclusion of the trial for the 191 specific victims, though Mackenzie faces additional charges in other courts for more than 200 other deaths.

The case centers on the Good News International Church, which moved its members to a remote 800-acre property in Kilifi County. In 2023, investigators exhumed more than 400 bodies from shallow graves on the Chakama Ranch. The followers lived in mud huts in an effort to avoid local scrutiny. While over 60 bodies were identified and reburied by families, many remain unclaimed.

Mackenzie was not alone in the courtroom. Twenty-eight of his followers, including guards and gravediggers, were also found guilty on October 19. They were accused of enforcing Mackenzie's orders for followers to fast until they died in order to meet Jesus. All 29 defendants denied the charges, with the exception of one person who confessed and asked for a lighter sentence.

Justice Diana Kavedza determined that Mackenzie bore the primary criminal responsibility. She noted that 183 victims died of total starvation, while eight others were killed through direct homicide. Kavedza described the killings as cold and calculated. She rejected arguments from some defendants that the loss of their own children changed the nature of the crime.

Mackenzie's assistant pastor, Smart Mwakalama, received a 160-year sentence. During the reading of the verdicts, Mackenzie was observed smiling and speaking with Mwakalama. The prosecution had originally sought the death penalty for Mackenzie, which in Kenya is often served as life imprisonment. The last execution in the country took place in 1987.

Defense attorney Lawrence Obonyo stated that he has already filed an appeal. He argued that a 200-year sentence is effectively life imprisonment, claiming the court was circumventing the constitution. All convicted individuals have 14 days to submit their appeals.

Families of the victims expressed mixed reactions to the ruling. Suleiman Ziro, a father of seven who lost six children and his wife, traveled 120 kilometers to attend. He called for the death penalty because he has not yet recovered the bodies of his loved ones. Dan Mackenzie, the pastor's son, said the conviction served justice for the victims. He noted that he survived by rebelling against his father's teachings, while two younger brothers and three sisters were rescued and placed in a children's home.