Kenyan Cult Leader Sentenced to 200 Years for 191 Murders

A court in Mombasa gave Paul Mackenzie, who established the Good News International congregation, a 200-year prison term over the deaths of 191 people. The victims were 190 children and one adult. More than two dozen of Mackenzie’s followers were also sentenced alongside him, after all 29 defendants were found guilty on October 19, 2026.

The court found that Mackenzie had relocated followers to Shakahola Forest and ordered them to fast to death. Justice Diana Kavedza said he bore primary criminal responsibility for moving them to the remote site and directing the fasting.

Mackenzie had persuaded followers to leave their homes for the forest, telling them that fasting would ready them for heaven and deepen their relationship with God. Some of his co-defendants were guards who enforced his fasting orders, while others were gravediggers accused of helping hide mass graves. The defendants rejected the accusations; one defendant admitted guilt and sought a reduced penalty.

In 2023, investigators uncovered and removed more than 400 bodies from unmarked, shallow burial sites at Chakama Ranch in coastal Kilifi County. The 800-acre property was where Mackenzie’s followers lived in mud huts, apart from nearby communities and authorities. The sentence concerns the deaths of 191 people.