Self-proclaimed Kenyan doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 29 associates have been found guilty of murdering 191 people, mostly children, who starved to death in Shakahola Forest. The verdict arrives three years after authorities uncovered mass graves near Malindi, exposing a tragedy with a death toll exceeding 400.
Justice Diana Mochache delivered an eight-hour judgment convicting Paul Mackenzie and 29 other leaders of the Good News International Church on 191 counts of murder. The court found that followers of the cult starved their children and themselves to death based on Mackenzie’s doctrine that education and modern medicine were evil, and that fasting was required to meet Jesus. Twenty-nine other leaders of his cult were also convicted of murder after pleading not guilty and insisting that nobody was forced to die.
The trial heard testimony from more than 120 witnesses detailing events between 2021 and 2023 at the 325-hectare ranch in Shakahola Forest, located near the coastal town of Malindi. Prosecutors established that Mackenzie initiated and directed the extreme fasting through a structured hierarchy of death
that targeted children first, followed by teenagers, women, and men. The state argued that the accused acted with a common purpose, and that children who died as a result of fasting could not have consented.
Testimony and Evidence from Shakahola Forest
Gravediggers and survivors revealed harrowing details during the proceedings regarding how the fasting directives were enforced inside the compound. Seventeen men hired from a nearby town handled the task of digging shallow graves, with some workers paid just $8 a day, where bodies were frequently stacked on top of one another. One of the gravediggers told reporters that every grave found contained at least three bodies, including children as young as a few weeks old, with some corpses having their hands and legs tied and bodies wrapped in bedsheets.
Some of the remains were of children as young as a few weeks old.
James, gravedigger, via BBC
Witnesses testified that burials on the property were referred to internally as weddings
to celebrate followers passing away to join Jesus. One witness recounted that a pregnant woman was barred from nursing her newborn baby, who died 12 days later, after being instructed to fast to death and follow her children. Post-mortem examinations and police reports indicated that while starvation caused many of the deaths, victims also suffered from asphyxia, neck compression and traumatic head injury. Defense lawyers argued during the trial that the prosecution’s case was largely founded on circumstantial evidence, hearsay accounts and inconclusive forensic findings
.
The Long Road to Accountability for Victims’ Families
The grim discoveries began in March 2023 after a man reported to police that family members had failed to return from the new church. Francis Wanje, a teacher who lost eight relatives including his daughter and two grandchildren, traveled from rural coastal communities to attend the proceedings at the Mombasa Law Courts.
Our greatest fear is that if this is not implemented, we are likely to see another Shakahola.
Rev Mutava, task force chairman, via Yahoo
While authorities discovered hundreds of bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest and surrounding areas, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights put the death toll at 429 in 2024. Kilifi County executive committee member for health Peter Mwarogo noted that some families traced relatives but declined to collect remains because of social stigma. Authorities set a deadline for families to claim bodies before conducting court-approved burials at a nearby site.
Institutional Failures and Ongoing Legal Proceedings
The tragedy prompted fierce public backlash and official investigations into why law enforcement failed to act earlier.
Although cabinet approved a draft of the Religious Organisations Bill, implementation stalled after clergy members appealed for its withdrawal, leaving task force chairman Rev Mutava to warn that another Shakahola could occur if the changes are not implemented.
Mackenzie previously established the Good News International Church in 2003, setting up branches in Nairobi and along Kenya’s coast before stating he closed it in 2019, and was arrested in 2017 over radicalisation charges before being acquitted, and arrested again in 2019 in Shakahola after two children died of starvation. Justice Mochache scheduled sentencing for 6 November.