New Delhi: A Kenyan court on Friday sentenced cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for murdering 191 people, including 190 children, through enforced starvation and other killings linked to the Shakahola Forest massacre. The high court in Mombasa also sentenced 28 accomplices, marking a major development in a case that exposed hundreds of deaths in coastal Kenya.
Justice Diana Kavedza imposed two consecutive 100-year prison terms, covering 183 murders by starvation and eight direct homicides. She found that Mackenzie exploited the trust of vulnerable followers through his religious influence and media presence before subjecting them to enforced fasting.
Mackenzie’s 28 co-accused received sentences ranging from 10 to 160 years, with assistant pastor Smart Mwakalama receiving 160 years, the Associated Press reported. Those convicted included guards who enforced fasting directives and individuals who helped conceal bodies, with punishments reflecting their different roles in the killings.
The sentencing follows the October 19 conviction of Mackenzie and his accomplices on 191 murder counts. The court found that religious teachings and an organized hierarchy were used to enforce fasting, with followers instructed to starve themselves and their children to reach heaven before the end of the world.
Prosecutors said those who resisted were beaten, restrained or prevented from leaving the isolated settlement. Mackenzie denied forcing followers to starve, but the court rejected his defence, finding that the deaths resulted from a deliberate system of coercion and deprivation.
The case emerged in 2023 after police received information about disappearances near Shakahola forest in Kilifi County. Investigators subsequently uncovered mass graves and severely malnourished survivors, revealing the scale of the tragedy.
Authorities have recovered 448 bodies from the forest, according to Reuters, although Friday’s sentencing concerns only 191 victims. Many remains were too badly decomposed for identification, leaving families struggling to recover and bury their relatives.
Mackenzie’s lawyer, Lawrence Obonyo, told AP that an appeal had been launched, arguing that sentences extending to 200 years effectively amounted to life imprisonment. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Mackenzie, although Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987.
Stephen Mwiti, whose six children died after his wife took them to Shakahola, questioned how children could have consented to the fasting. “What about the children?” he told Reuters, calling for Mackenzie to receive either a death sentence or life imprisonment.
Mackenzie also faces separate proceedings involving 52 deaths at another location, alongside terrorism, manslaughter, child abuse and torture-related charges. These cases remain distinct from the 191 murder convictions.
Justice Kavedza also criticized Kenyan institutions for failing to prevent the deaths and urged parliament to strengthen safeguards. Mackenzie had attracted police attention since 2017, while authorities shut his church in Malindi in 2019, before he relocated to Shakahola forest. religious oversight reforms proposed after the tragedy remain pending.
Mackenzie also faces separate proceedings involving 52 deaths at another location, alongside terrorism, manslaughter, child abuse and torture-related charges. These cases remain distinct from the 191 murder convictions.