Kenyan sect leader sentenced to 200 years over 191 deaths
Original report:
Paul Mackenzie received a 200-year prison sentence for the murders of 190 children and one adult, the Guardian reported on 6 November 2026. The case centred on deaths linked to his sect in Kenya’s Shakahola forest.
A court in Mombasa sentenced Kenyan sect leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison after convicting him of murdering 190 children and one adult, according to the Guardian’s November 2026 report. The punishment comprised 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years for direct homicide. Mackenzie denied forcing victims to starve, an argument the court rejected.
Prosecutors said his Good News International church instructed followers to starve themselves and their children to reach heaven before the world ended. More than 400 bodies were recovered in Shakahola forest. The judgment covered 191 deaths; investigations into more than 200 others were continuing at the time of the report.
The case prompted calls for stronger oversight of religious organisations in Kenya and questions about authorities’ earlier interventions. Police had searched Mackenzie’s premises in 2017. According to police, authorities closed his church in 2019, after which he moved to Shakahola forest, where followers lived in makeshift homes.
Source
the Guardian — 6 November 2026
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