Who is Paul Mackenzie? Kenyan cult leader convicted of 190 deaths after children starved to 'meet Jesus' | Profile

Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie had his followers starve to death in order to get to heaven and “meet Jesus”. He has been linked to more than 400 deaths and was convicted on Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult.

The Mackenzie case attracted worldwide attention and became known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”, in which hundreds of bodies were discovered at the cult base inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi from 2023.

Who is Paul Mackenzie?

Paul Mackenzie, a pastor, is the leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult. He is a former taxi driver turned preacher. He was also once a street vendor.

Mackenzie has been linked to more than 400 deaths and was convicted on Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult after ordering his followers to starve to death to meet Jesus.

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Mackenzie was convicted along with 28 others who helped lead a sect linked to the Good News International Church in coastal southeastern Kenya.

Mackenzie was the leader of the church. In 2003, he founded his evangelical Good News International Church in Malindi.

The church has drawn thousands of followers across its many branches in Kenya, with devotees also watching Mackenzie’s fiery sermons broadcast on the church’s Times TV channel.

Mackenzie’s Apocalyptic Teachings

According to the Associated Press (AP), Judge Diana Kavedza ruled that pastor Paul Mackenzie oversaw an organized scheme that used religious teachings to force followers to fast until they died.

The court reportedly found that the fasting-unto-death directive was implemented by targeting children first, while guards were deployed to prevent them from escaping and beat those who tried to escape or eat.

Mackenzie also told his followers to avoid education and health care. “Medical treatment was presented as a tool of Satan,” Judge Kavedza said in her ruling on Monday.

He allegedly convinced his followers that he could talk to God. Some of them are believed to have sold property to donate to the church, Al Jazeera reported.

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Mackenzie was detained in 2019 for opposing government efforts to assign Kenyans national identification numbers, saying the numbers were satanic.

That year, he closed his church premises and took his followers to a ranch in the woods, where they built houses and lived in villages with biblical names like Nazareth, survivors told the AP.

The COVID-19 pandemic fueled his apocalyptic teachings that the end of the world was coming, and he and the sect’s hierarchy began enforcing strict fasting, even forbidding parents to feed their children.

Those who tried to defy his teachings or left the forest were beaten, according to survivors. The forced fasting lasted more than two years

In addition to the murder charges involving the deaths of 190 children and one adult, Mackenzie and others also face separate charges of manslaughter, terrorism and child torture for the deaths of more than 230 others.

About the Cult: ‘Shakahola Forest Massacre’

According to the AP, the sect was exposed in April 2023 after Mackenzie closed his church premises in the coastal resort of Malindi and moved inland with hundreds of followers to the nearby Shakahola Forest.

Police investigating reports of missing people found emaciated followers and shallow graves scattered across a large ranch in the woods.

The exhumation of more than 400 bodies, many of them from mass graves, took weeks.

For most, starvation was the cause of death in what became known as the Shakahole Massacre, but some died of suffocation, strangulation, or head injuries, according to postmortem reports.

The cause of death for the others could not be determined as the bodies had decomposed. A small number of victims died soon after rescue because they were so emaciated.

What happened?

In 2023, more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves at the 800-acre (320-hectare) Chakama Ranch in the coastal district of Kilifi, where Mackenzie’s followers lived in mud huts, out of sight of local communities and authorities.

Mackenzie was arrested and charged with murder along with his wife and dozens of his followers. Some followers later became prosecution witnesses in the case. The trial began in 2023.

He denied all the accusations, saying that he did not force his followers to fast. His co-defendants in that case also pleaded not guilty.

A mitigation hearing will be held on October 30. Mackenzie and the others face life in prison when they are sentenced for the murder, scheduled for Nov. 6.

In April last year, the Court of Appeal allowed prosecutors to proceed with 191 counts of murder against Mackenzie and his co-accused.

In May 2024, the Supreme Court ordered prosecutors to reduce the murder charge to a maximum of 12 counts. However, the appeals court ruled that the law does not limit the number of charges that can be brought against a defendant.