Kenyan Court Convicts Paul Mackenzie in 191 Deaths

A Kenyan court has convicted self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie and 28 associates of murdering 191 people in a religious group that enforced deadly fasting in Shakahola Forest near the country's southeastern coast. The verdict, delivered in Mombasa on October 19, 2026, found that religious teachings and an organized system of coercion contributed to the deaths, nearly all of them children.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said the court established that followers were subjected to an organized system of enforced fasting, with children targeted first. Authorities have recovered 429 bodies from the forest since investigations began in 2023, according to CNN, making the case one of Kenya's deadliest cult-related tragedies.

Mackenzie and his co-defendants had denied the murder charges. The court rejected their claims that followers had chosen voluntarily to starve, and sentencing was scheduled for November 6, 2026. Mackenzie's lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, said the defense intended to appeal the verdict.

In its account of the ruling, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions described how the group enforced fasting and restricted followers' movements.

"Fasting was implemented sequentially, beginning with children, while guards controlled movement and prevented followers from escaping," the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said.

The prosecution also said children faced physical punishment when they tried to eat or flee. CNN reported that postmortem findings cited by the judge indicated that some victims died from suffocation, neck compression or head injuries, rather than starvation alone.

Judge Diana Mochache's eight-hour judgment described Mackenzie's influence over followers and the religious claims used to persuade them to abandon their homes and move into the forest.

"Jesus's mouthpiece," was how the judge described the role followers believed Mackenzie held, according to the BBC.

The court heard that Mackenzie promoted beliefs that rejected formal education and modern medicine. His sermons and written materials portrayed the outside world as evil and presented relocation to the forest as a route to salvation.

Prosecutors said Mackenzie had "initiated and directed" extreme fasting at his 800-acre ranch in Shakahola Forest, according to Al Jazeera. The prosecution described a "structured hierarchy of death" in which children were expected to die before teenagers, women and men.

The BBC reported that one co-accused said Mackenzie had instructed followers that anyone who resisted fasting should be forced to heaven through physical violence. The court also heard that burials in the forest were described as "weddings," with the dead celebrated as having joined Jesus.

Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003, and the church subsequently attracted thousands of followers through branches across Kenya, the BBC reported. It operated a television station, Times TV, that broadcast his sermons from Malindi.

His teachings discouraged education and healthcare and also condemned digital identity cards. The church's main operation closed in 2019, after which Mackenzie moved to Shakahola Forest and encouraged followers to join him there.

Police arrested Mackenzie in 2023 after receiving information that led investigators to the forest. Authorities began exhuming bodies in April that year, uncovering mass graves and evidence of severe malnutrition. Some remains have remained unidentified because of advanced decomposition.

The discovery prompted nationwide scrutiny of religious extremism and questions about whether authorities had done enough to prevent the tragedy. Mackenzie had reportedly been arrested twice previously and released, according to Al Jazeera.

Families of victims attended the proceedings in Mombasa, seeking accountability for relatives who disappeared into the forest.

Francis Wanje, 62, told Al Jazeera that he had lost eight family members, including two grandchildren.

"It has been really a heavy thing (for) us as a family, and it has really taken us very far in terms of psychological problems," Wanje said.

Stephen Mwiti, 48, told the BBC that all six of his children died in Shakahola Forest. His former wife was among those convicted alongside Mackenzie.

"I'm a happy man, that all persons have been convicted," Mwiti said.

He said he had recovered and buried only the remains of his son Samuel. The BBC also reported that gravediggers hired to exhume bodies described finding multiple victims in individual graves, including very young children.

Rodgers Shibutse, a Nairobi resident who found his mother's remains among those exhumed in February 2024, told CNN that the conviction represented progress but would not fully resolve his grief.

"Not 100% justice, but at least the government has done something," Shibutse said.

Mackenzie and his associates also face other legal proceedings involving allegations of terrorism, radicalization and denying children access to education. The October 19 murder verdict was the first ruling against Mackenzie on the most serious charges connected to the Shakahola deaths, and the defendants were due to be sentenced on November 6.