In brief
Paul Mackenzie, head of a Kenyan doomsday cult, has been found guilty of over 190 murders, the bulk of which were children forced to starve by his orders. In a lengthy 14‑hour judgment delivered in Mombasa, Justice Diana Mochache highlighted how the cult treated burial as a religious wedding and how followers were taught that medicine and schooling were evil. Twenty‑eight co‑leaders were also convicted while Mackenzie remains the only one charged with the mass killings. The case exposes a chilling blend of fear, secrecy and pseudo‑spirituality that turned ordinary relatives into orchestrators of mass starvation.
Kenya’s most notorious horror case ended today when former cult leader Paul Mackenzie was found guilty of 191 murders, the overwhelming majority of which were children who starved under his orders.
During a 14‑hour verdict in Mombasa, Justice Diana Mochache said followers saw Mackenzie as ‘Jesus’s mouthpiece’ and forced his devotees to refuse food, medicine and even basic schooling.
Burials in the Shakahola forest were treated as celebratory ‘weddings’ with mourners chanting that the dead were ‘wedded to Jesus’. Witnesses described bodies wrapped in bedsheets with hands and legs bound, many victims being infants and toddlers.
Twenty‑eight other cult leaders were convicted alongside Mackenzie, but he remains the only one charged with the mass killings.
The case has exposed a disturbing paradigm in which fear, secrecy and feigned spirituality turned ordinary relatives into architects of mass starvation.
