Kenyan Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie Found Guilty in 191 Deaths

Table of Contents

• You might want to know
• The verdict and the Shakahola tragedy
• Key insights table
• Afterwards...

You might want to know

• How did Paul Mackenzie’s teachings contribute to the deaths of his followers?
• Why do some survivors and relatives still describe him in sharply different ways?

The verdict and the Shakahola tragedy

Paul Mackenzie, the leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult, has been found guilty of murdering 191 people. All but one of the victims were children. The verdict represents the first time Mackenzie has faced a decision on the most serious murder charges against him. Twenty-nine other leaders associated with the cult were also convicted. They had pleaded not guilty and repeatedly maintained that no one had been forced to die.

According to the case presented in court, Mackenzie instructed followers to starve their children so that they could “meet Jesus.” His teachings prohibited education and described modern medicine as “evil.” Justice Diana Mochache delivered an eight-hour judgment, saying Mackenzie’s followers believed he was “Jesus’s mouthpiece.” A co-accused told the court that Mackenzie had said anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows.”

The judge said burials in the forest where the group was based were referred to as “weddings.” Those who died, she said, were celebrated as having “wedded with Jesus.” One witness described a pregnant woman who was prevented from nursing her newborn baby. The child died 12 days later. “She was instructed to fast to death and follow her children,” the witness said.

Mackenzie’s former head of security, Enos Amanya Ngala, was first accused in the case. He later entered a plea deal and became a prosecution witness. Mackenzie and other cult leaders also face other legal proceedings, including cases concerning terrorism, radicalisation, and denying children an education. Mackenzie is due to be sentenced on 6 November.

The case is connected to the discovery of mass graves in Shakahola forest, near Kenya’s coast. In 2023, authorities said that more than 400 bodies had been found in shallow graves. Mackenzie had led followers from across the country to the forest. The number of bodies discovered in the wider investigation is distinct from the 191 deaths covered by the murder verdict.

Seventeen men were hired from a nearby town to exhume the graves. Some were reportedly paid just $8 (£6) a day. One gravedigger, identified as James, told the BBC that every grave they found contained at least three bodies. Some of the remains, he said, belonged to children only a few weeks old. He recalled finding 12 children laid in a row in one grave, arranged one above another “like clothes.” Gravediggers also described children’s hands and legs being tied and their bodies wrapped in bedsheets.

Some victims were known to people living in nearby communities. Followers sometimes went to Shakahola town to buy supplies or collect water from the River Galana, which flows through the town. Gravedigger Salim Karisa said people from the community sometimes transported individuals into the forest on motorbikes, but the operation was so secretive and carefully planned that residents could not understand what was happening inside.

Stephen Mwiti, 48, said he lost all six of his children to the cult. When he went to confront Mackenzie, he saw “many bald women and tens of children” around the pastor at his home. Mackenzie reportedly prohibited make-up and particular hairstyles, telling women to shave their heads or leave their hair unkempt. Mwiti’s former wife was among those convicted of murder alongside Mackenzie.

Speaking to the BBC, Mwiti expressed intense anger and grief. “If I met Pastor Mackenzie today, one of us will have to die,” he said. He said all six of his children died in Shakahola forest, but he had found and buried only the remains of his son Samuel. Holding a photograph of his family, he described the loss visibly emotionally. In his home in the coastal town of Malindi, 70km (43 miles) from Shakahola, he pointed to a dusty television and cable box and said, “This little thing here was the start of all my misery.” Mackenzie’s broadcasts had brought his doctrine into the family’s home.

Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003. Over the next 16 years, the church attracted thousands of followers through branches around Kenya. It also operated Times TV, a television station that broadcast Mackenzie’s sermons from his church in Malindi. His End Days sermons included conspiracy theories that characterized education as “evil,” healthcare as “against the doctrine,” and digital identity cards as “the mark of the devil.”

Mackenzie’s son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, said he worked as a cameraperson at the church. He described children sitting at the back, adults in the middle, and worshippers singing for the morning. The pastor began his intense sermons at noon, sometimes including what he called “casting out demons.” The main church closed in 2019, after which Paul Mackenzie moved to Shakahola forest and encouraged followers to join him.

Peter Shukrani, 23, said his mother relocated to the forest with him. He had begun attending Mackenzie’s church when he was eight years old and regarded the pastor as his “spiritual father.” Shukrani said he would never speak badly of Mackenzie. In the forest, however, he became ill, and his health worsened because medication was forbidden. He said his mother threw away the medicine he was meant to take, believing that only God could heal him. He described the settlement as mud houses spread across a vast forest, where residents fasted for a few days and then ate a small meal.

By March 2023, when local herders first found remains, hundreds of people had died. Karisa said some people were so weak that they died in rescuers’ arms while being carried out of the forest. Shukrani was among the men rescued in March 2023. He had been ill and bedridden for weeks. He said his mother discarded the medication he needed because she believed Mackenzie’s teaching that medicine was evil. “I would have died if I wasn’t rescued from Shakahola forest,” he said.

The current case is described in 298 pages of charges. Of the 191 victims Mackenzie and his followers were accused of murdering in this case, 190 were children. Many remain unidentified because their remains had decomposed extensively. Court documents refer to several victims as “unknown male child,” identifying them by the location of the grave and the date the remains were discovered.

The accounts and evidence describe deaths involving starvation, strangulation, and beatings. Yet survivors’ views of Mackenzie are not uniform. Shukrani, despite his illness and the suffering of other followers, continued to call him “a good person who cares for me.” He said Mackenzie had not forced anyone to fast and that people had made their own choices because of their beliefs. “I still love him and he is still my pastor,” he said.

Dan Mackenzie expressed a contrasting view before the verdict, saying his father should be found guilty. He argued that his father was the leader and someone followers looked up to, and therefore was responsible for mass murder. The opposing accounts underline the complexity of the case: evidence presented in court concerns the leader’s influence and the deaths, while some former followers continue to interpret their participation through personal faith and loyalty.

The judgment follows a long investigation into events in Shakahola and the community that formed around Mackenzie’s teachings. It also brings renewed attention to the risks posed when a leader’s authority is combined with isolation, extreme fasting, rejection of healthcare, and control over family life. The verdict concerns criminal responsibility, while the other legal cases against Mackenzie and fellow leaders remain separate proceedings.

Key insights table

Afterwards...

The verdict establishes a major legal milestone, but it does not end the broader process of accountability or recovery. Mackenzie’s sentencing is expected on 6 November, and separate proceedings concerning terrorism, radicalisation, and children’s education remain part of the legal landscape. The identification of victims and the experiences of survivors and families will also continue to shape the public understanding of the tragedy.

The events in Shakahola raise lasting questions about how communities can respond when religious authority is used to isolate followers, discourage medical care, or impose dangerous practices. Future scrutiny may focus on the warning signs that were missed, the protection of children, and how authorities and communities can intervene when vulnerable people face coercion or severe harm. Any assessment should remain grounded in evidence and respect for the victims and their families.