PAUL Mackenzie, a preacher in Kenya who claimed to be a pastor, was sentenced to 200 years in prison on Friday after being found guilty of the murders of 190 children and one adult in a starvation case that shocked the nation.
Since 2023, hundreds of bodies have been discovered at the group’s compound near the coastal resort town of Malindi, in a tragedy that has come to be known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre.”
Last month, a court convicted Mackenzie and 28 co-defendants of murdering 191 individuals between January 2021 and September 2023.
On Friday, the court handed down a 100-year prison sentence for the murder charges and an additional 100 years for causing starvation, while his accomplices received various lengthy prison terms.
In the ruling, the judge detailed the horrific suffering endured by the victims—including children who watched their siblings die of hunger while their own parents continued to eat and drink.
According to the judge, some victims also died from strangulation and severe beatings, while other children were subjected to extreme suffering, harrowing living conditions, and psychological trauma.
Mackenzie reportedly showed no reaction as the sentence was read, much as he had remained impassive throughout the trial.
The prosecution had previously sought the death penalty; however, the judge concluded that such a sentence would fail to serve as a deterrent, as the offenders viewed death as a path to heaven.
According to foreign reports, although Kenya retains the death penalty, no executions have been carried out since 1987.
Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023 after a human rights group alerted the authorities to the group’s activities.
At that time, several followers were rescued from a 325-hectare farm in the Shakahola Forest on the Kenyan coast.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported that the death toll from the tragedy had risen to 429 by 2024, with some victims yet to be identified.
The case has also prompted calls for stricter regulation of religious organisations, following revelations that Mackenzie had been arrested twice previously but subsequently released.
He founded the Good News International Church in 2003 and established several branches in Nairobi and along the Kenyan coast, attracting thousands of followers—even though he claimed the church had closed in 2019.
Mackenzie was arrested in 2017 on charges of "radicalization," but was released after the court found him not guilty.
In 2019, he was arrested again following the deaths of two children in Shakahola, but was later released on bail. – November 7, 2026
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