Published on October 19, 2026
A Kenyan court has found starvation cult leader Paul Mackenzie and dozens of his associates guilty of murder for the deaths of 191 people – all but one child.
The self-proclaimed pastor and his International Church of the Good News organized an apocalyptic Christian cult in which they ordered followers to starve themselves and their children so they could go to heaven before the end of the world and “meet Jesus.”
Police arrested Mackenzie in 2023 after receiving a tip. After several weeks, authorities began discovering bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest near the coast of southeastern Kenya.
Mackenzie, who was convicted with 28 associates, insisted he did not force the victims to starve, but this claim was rejected by the Mombasa court, where the verdict was announced on Monday.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty and denied charges in other cases, including terrorism, radicalization and preventing children from continuing their education.
The court said Mackenzie and others convicted in the case would be sentenced on November 6.
More than 400 people died in the Shakahola tragedy, according to Kenyan authorities, making it one of the country’s deadliest sectarian disasters.
Investigations uncovered mass graves and evidence of severe malnutrition, sparking national scrutiny of religious extremism and the government’s failure to detect the group’s activities earlier.
Since the bodies were discovered three years ago, there have been calls for the government to impose stricter regulations on religious organizations. It also emerged that Mackenzie had been arrested twice in the past and then released.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie “initiated and led” an extreme fast on his 800-acre (325-hectare) ranch in the Shakahola Forest.
They described a “structured hierarchy of death” in which children should die first, followed by adolescents, women and finally men.
Family members of victims who died in the forest came to hear the verdict at the Mombasa court.
Francis Wanje lost eight family members, including two grandchildren, to the cult.
“It’s been a really heavy thing for us as a family, and it’s really taken us very far in terms of psychological issues,” the 62-year-old said.
Gn world
