Kenyan sect leader Paul Mackenzie sentenced to 200 years for 191 murders

A Kenyan court in Mombasa sentenced sect leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison on November 6, 2026, for the murders of 191 people, including 190 children, following a case involving orders to followers to undertake fatal fasting.²³

Sentence and appeal

The sentence imposed by the Mombasa High Court comprised 100 years for killings through starvation and another 100 years for direct homicide, according to the Guardian. NPR reported that the court classified 183 of the deaths as starvation murders and eight as direct homicides.²³

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Mackenzie, citing the seriousness of the crimes and what they described as his lack of remorse, the BBC reported. For the other defendants, prosecutors sought imprisonment for life. Mackenzie and the other defendants asked the court to show mercy.¹

According to NPR, assistant pastor Smart Mwakalama received a 160-year prison sentence. Lawrence Obonyo, the defence lawyer representing Mackenzie and several other convicted defendants, said he had launched an appeal. Mackenzie denied forcing the victims to starve, an argument the court rejected, the Guardian reported.²³

Deaths in the forest

The court found that the deaths resulted from religious instructions that compelled followers to fast fatally, according to the BBC. The Guardian reported that prosecutors described a Christian doomsday sect whose members were told to stop eating and to withhold food from their children.¹²

In some cases, children were kept apart and deprived of food as their parents watched, the judge said, according to the Guardian. The newspaper also reported that Mackenzie's accomplices used threats and beatings to enforce his instructions. The BBC reported that people who opposed his teachings were beaten to death.¹²

More than 400 bodies were recovered from shallow graves in Shakahola forest, according to the BBC and the Guardian. The Guardian reported that only 26 had been identified. The newspaper said the ruling covered 191 victims, with inquiries still under way into over 200 additional fatalities.¹²

Earlier warnings

According to the BBC, Mackenzie founded Good News International Ministries in 2003. His main church closed in 2019 and he moved to Shakahola forest. The Guardian reported that police had searched his premises in 2017 and that a man's report to police in March 2023 brought the followers' situation to light.¹²

The BBC reported that KNCHR found repeated failures by local administrators and law enforcement officials to respond to the sect's activities. Mackenzie also faces terrorism and other charges relating to the forest deaths, which he denies, according to the Guardian. Those proceedings are separate from the murder sentence.¹²