In brief
Dan Mackenzie, eldest son of the convicted cult leader Paul Mackenzie, claims his younger siblings were still being forced to fast two weeks before the trial. He reported the abuse, leading police to rescue eight children from their grandmother’s home. The father, convicted of killing 190 children and one adult, preached that education was forbidden and modern medicine was “evil”. Dan, now a motorcycle taxi driver, left school at seven and endured beatings and forced fasting, and hopes the verdict brings closure to the victims’ families.
Dan Mackenzie, the eldest son of the convicted cult leader Paul Mackenzie, says his younger siblings were still being forced to fast as recently as two weeks before the trial.
He reported the abuse to police, who rescued eight children – including the five siblings – from their grandmother’s cottage in Naivasha and took them to a local relief centre.
The father, convicted on Monday of killing 190 children and one adult in Shakahola forest, had preached that education was forbidden and modern medicine was “evil”.
Dan, now a motorcycle taxi driver in Malindi, tells how he left school at seven and endured beatings to fast for almost a week in his early teens.
He claims the report was necessary to free his siblings and has since distanced himself from the cult traditions, hoping the verdict will bring closure to those who lost loved ones.
