In brief
A Kenyan court found Paul Mackenzie guilty of 191 murders, 190 of them children killed by starvation in the Shakahola forest. His teachings banned medicine, education and even modern technology, and followers were trained to fast until death. Twenty‑eight co‑leaders were also convicted, while Mackenzie faces further terrorism and education‑denial charges. The horror came to light when thousands of bodies were unearthed in 2023, shocking the nation and drawing international attention.
On 19 October 2026, a Kenyan court found Paul Mackenzie, the charismatic founder of Good News International Ministries, guilty of 191 counts of murder, 190 of which were children killed by starvation in the Shakahola forest.
Mackenzie had preached that education, medicine and even digital IDs were "evil." His followers were ordered to fast until they died, and in some graves the bodies of children were bound, wrapped in sheets and left to rot in shallow pits.
Twenty‑eight co‑leaders were also convicted, and Mackenzie faces additional charges for terrorism and the unlawful denial of education. The trial, held in Mombasa, followed the 2023 exhumation of more than 400 bodies.
Mackenzie founded the cult in 2003 with a TV station that broadcast sermons from Malindi. In 2019 he relocated the community to the remote Shakahola forest, instructing followers to abandon modern medicine and stop eating until "meeting Jesus."
Survivors describe living in mud huts, fasting for days or weeks, and being struck with violence against dissenters. The former cult member Stephen Mwiti lost all six of his children; he expressed relief that the verdict had condemned his father.
Three days after his conviction, Mackenzie was scheduled for sentencing on 6 November. The case has drawn international attention for the scale of the atrocity and the insidious use of religious rhetoric to justify mass murder.
