A Kenyan court has sentenced doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for his role in the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, after directing followers to starve themselves to death in the belief that they would meet Jesus.
Mackenzie was convicted in October 2026 alongside 28 co-defendants over the killings linked to his religious group in Shakahola forest, near Kenya’s coastal region.
Delivering the sentence on Friday, November 6, 2026, Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie bore the “primary criminal culpability” for organising and directing the deadly fasting practices that led to the deaths.
The court sentenced him to 100 years for homicide and another 100 years for offences relating to starvation. Although the sentences within each category will run concurrently, the two categories will run consecutively, resulting in a total prison term of 200 years.
According to the BBC, the judge described the killings as “cold and calculated”, adding that the punishment was intended to send a clear message that such atrocities deserved the maximum penalties permitted under Kenyan law.
Mackenzie’s 28 co-defendants, including guards who allegedly enforced the fasting orders and gravediggers who helped conceal victims’ bodies, received prison sentences of up to 160 years.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Mackenzie, but Justice Mochache declined to impose capital punishment, arguing that it would remove the possibility of rehabilitation.
Shakahola Forest Deaths
Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after Kenyan authorities uncovered hundreds of bodies buried in shallow graves in Shakahola forest.
The discovery triggered one of Kenya’s most extensive investigations into religious extremism and mass deaths, with more than 400 bodies subsequently exhumed from the forest.
Investigators found that many of the victims had died from starvation, while others suffered suffocation, strangulation or head injuries.
The deaths were linked to Mackenzie’s teachings, which reportedly instructed followers to undertake extreme fasting as a way of preparing to meet Jesus.
Paul Mackenzie
Mackenzie founded Good News International Ministries in 2003 and became known for sermons in which he portrayed conventional education and healthcare as evil.
He later relocated to Shakahola forest, where he encouraged followers to join him and embrace his religious teachings.
The prosecution maintained that Mackenzie and his associates orchestrated the conditions that led to the mass deaths, including enforcing starvation practices and concealing victims’ bodies.
However, Mackenzie and his co-defendants denied the allegations, insisting that nobody had been forced to die.
Despite the 200-year sentence, the Kenyan preacher faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges, which he also denies.
