A Kenyan doomsday cult leader who ordered followers to starve their children in the belief that they would “meet Jesus” has been sentenced to 200 years in prison over the deaths of 191 people.
Paul Mackenzie, 54, was convicted last month alongside 28 co-accused of murdering 190 children and one adult.
The self-proclaimed pastor received his sentence on Friday, with several of his co-accused also handed prison terms exceeding 100 years.
Judge Diana Mochache said Mackenzie was sentenced to 100 years for each of 183 starvation-related counts and another 100 years for each of eight murders committed through direct homicide. The sentences will run concurrently.
Mackenzie and his followers were arrested in 2023 after authorities discovered hundreds of bodies in the remote Shakahola forest in Kilifi County. A total of 429 bodies were eventually recovered from the site.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Mackenzie during proceedings in Mombasa. However, Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987.
The 54-year-old still faces separate charges of terrorism and manslaughter, which he denies.
Mackenzie led the apocalyptic Good News International Ministries group, allegedly convincing followers that education was evil and modern medicine went against religious doctrine.
When delivering her verdict last month, Justice Mochache said Mackenzie believed he was “Jesus’s mouthpiece”.
Survivors described how he allegedly imposed a death order that required children to starve first, followed by women, men and, finally, church leaders.
One follower claimed that anyone who refused to fast was to be forced into heaven through “kicks and blows”.
The scale of the tragedy emerged as gravediggers hired by local authorities recovered the remains of children, including babies believed to have been only a few weeks old. Some victims were also found to have been buried alive.
One man told the BBC that 12 children’s bodies had been discovered arranged in a line inside a grave, stacked on top of one another.
The victims’ families continue to grapple with the devastating losses. Francis Wanje, 62, who lost two grandchildren, said he had hoped Mackenzie would receive the death penalty.
“Nothing can ease the pain,” he said, while expressing anger towards authorities for failing to intervene earlier.
Another grieving father, Stephen Mwiti, 48, said all six of his children died in the forest. He managed to recover and bury only the remains of his son, Samuel.
“If I met Pastor Mackenzie today, one of us would have to die,” he said.
Many of the recovered bodies remain unidentified because of severe decomposition. Authorities have instead labelled some remains according to the locations of their graves or the dates they were discovered.
Former cult member and deputy pastor Titus Katana previously told The Times that children were locked inside huts for five days without food or water before being wrapped in blankets and buried.
He alleged that some were buried while they were still alive.
