Mombasa, 19 October. A Kenyan court found preacher Paul Mackenzie guilty of murdering 191 people as part of his cult's activities; most of the victims were children whose parents, under his influence, starved them.
Mackenzie led Good News International Church and urged his followers to give up food, medical care and other needs in order to meet Christ. Mass graves were found in the Shakahola forest on Kenya's coast. Kenyan media describe the verdict in the 191-murder case as landmark; according to local outlets, about 30 of his followers were also found guilty.
The court rejected Mackenzie's argument that he did not force anyone to starve. Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache took more than eight hours to deliver the judgment: she said that in some cases children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched, and that the preacher deliberately twisted scripture to turn followers against education, make them cut family ties, give up work and retreat to the Shakahola forest. Under his authority, the judge said, the parental instinct to preserve a child's life was turned against the child. Earlier the court had ruled that Mackenzie's church operated as an apocalyptic cult. It is the first verdict against the preacher on murder charges.
CNN reports that the dead include 190 children starved in the hope of "meeting Jesus": of the 191 victims, 190 were children and one an adult.
Background: Graves in the Shakahola forest began to be found in 2023.
List of sources used: TASS, The Kenya Times, Talkafrica, CNN
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
