A Kenyan court sitting in Mombasa has found starvation cult leader, Paul Mackenzie, and 28 of his associates guilty of murder over the deaths of 191 people, under the false cover to meet Jesus. The victims, all but one of whom were children, were members of the Good News International Church, a Christian doomsday sect.
Justice Diana Mochache delivered the judgement on Monday, convicting the defendants after prosecutors proved they ordered followers to starve themselves to death in the Shakahola Forest. This follows the discovery by security operatives who unearthed over 400 bodies from shallow graves across the 800-acre ranch in 2023.
Mackenzie and his co-defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges, explaining that they did not force the victims to starve. The court dismissed the defence, setting November 6 for the official sentencing of all convicted persons.
The promise of meeting Jesus was weaponized into a deadly starvation schedule, wiping out entire families, according to prosecutors. Meanwhile, the cult leaders face ongoing trials for terrorism, radicalization, and preventing children from acquiring basic education.
“The sect initiated and directed a structured hierarchy of death under which children should die first, followed by teenagers, women, and then men, to allow them to go to heaven before the world ended.”
Bereaved relatives gathered at the Mombasa court to witness the judgement, seeking closure after years of delayed justice. Francis Wanje, a 62-year-old man who lost eight family members to the cult, including two grandchildren, lamented the trauma inflicted on the affected families.
“It has been really a heavy thing for us as a family, and it has really taken us very far in terms of psychological problems.”
The self-proclaimed pastor and 28 of his associates will face sentencing in November after orchestrating one of the country’s deadliest religious disasters.
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