Cult Leader Gets 200 Years For Starving 190 Kids to ‘Meet Jesus’

A Kenyan high court on Friday sentenced doomsday cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for the murder of 191 people — 190 of them children — whom he ordered starved to death so they could “meet Jesus.”

Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache of the Mombasa High Court described Mackenzie as the “principal architect” of one of Kenya’s worst modern mass killings. She said he bore “primary criminal culpability” for directing followers of his Good News International Ministries to fast until death in the remote Shakahola forest, near the coastal town of Malindi.

The judge imposed 100 years for the starvation murders and another 100 years for eight counts of direct homicide involving child victims. The two blocks of sentences will run consecutively, producing the 200-year total. Sentences within each category run concurrently.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty. Justice Kavedza declined, saying capital punishment would remove any possibility of rehabilitation. She called the killings “cold and calculated” and said the lengthy term was needed to send an unmistakable message that such atrocities deserve the maximum penalties the law allows.

Mackenzie, 50, founded the church in 2003. He later moved followers into the isolated Shakahola forest, preaching that education, healthcare and the outside world were evil.

Court findings showed he instructed that children die first, followed by young people, women and finally men, who were expected to bury the bodies before starving themselves.

Burials were sometimes referred to as “weddings.” Guards enforced the fasts through beatings, confinement and the withholding of food and water. Some victims died of asphyxia, strangulation or head injuries; others were found in shallow graves or dumped in latrines.

Mackenzie and 28 co-defendants were convicted on 19 October of all 191 murder counts. They had pleaded not guilty, insisting no one was forced to die. On Friday the co-accused received sentences ranging from 10 to 160 years, depending on their roles as enforcers, guards or gravediggers. Two men who entered plea agreements received 10-year terms.

Authorities first uncovered the horror in 2023 after a tip-off. More than 400 bodies have since been exhumed from the forest, making the death toll one of the highest linked to a religious cult in recent African history. Human-rights monitors put the figure at around 429, with further suspected deaths at a nearby site still under investigation. Mackenzie faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges in other proceedings, which he denies.

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The scale of the Shakahola deaths has drawn comparisons with the 2000 Uganda doomsday cult massacre that killed more than 700 people and the 1978 Jonestown tragedy in Guyana.

Survivors and relatives of the dead have described a system of radicalisation, isolation and violence that left families shattered.

Mackenzie appeared in court in a grey polo shirt, at times smiling and chatting with associates. His lawyers have indicated they will appeal. The judge stressed that the sentence prioritised retribution, denunciation and deterrence while leaving open the theoretical possibility of rehabilitation — though at 200 years the practical effect is that Mackenzie will spend the rest of his life behind bars.