The judge declined the death penalty to the Kenyan cult leader, saying it could reinforce the convicts’ belief that dying would reunite them with Jesus. She also wanted to keep open the chance they might help locate missing children.
BY PC Bureau
November 7: Paul Mackenzie, who founded the Good News International Church, will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a Kenyan court sentenced him to 200 years for the murders of 191 people, all but one of them children.Judge Diana Kavedza delivered the sentence at the Mombasa High Court on Friday, along with penalties for more than two dozen others convicted in the case.
Why not the death penalty
The judge chose not to impose capital punishment, saying it could actually reinforce the convicts’ belief that death would reunite them with Jesus, and would therefore fail as a deterrent. She also wanted to preserve the chance that they might help find the remains of children still missing. Mackenzie’s term is split evenly: 100 years for those who starved and 100 for those who were killed directly.
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A Kenyan doomsday cult leader linked to the deaths of more than 400 people has been sentenced to 200 years in prison after being convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult by ordering followers to starve themselves to meet Jesus. https://t.co/PzvAQPsP0P
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 6, 2026
dir=”ltr”>Of the 191 dead, 161 were children aged 9 or younger, 22 were aged 10 to 13, and five were aged 14 to 16. Two victims’ ages could not be established. Starvation caused 183 deaths, among them 182 children and one adult. The remaining eight children were suffocated, strangled or beaten to death. Some of the convicts’ own children are still missing and presumed dead.
A doomsday fast in the forest
Cult leader Mackenzie preached that the world would end in August 2023 and that only fasting could secure a place in heaven. A Kenyan Senate report said his doctrine had children dying first, followed by young people and women, with men surviving just long enough to bury the bodies.
He urged followers to leave their homes for Shakahola Forest in eastern Kenya. There, the court found, religious teaching was used to enforce the fast: guards controlled movement and blocked escape, and children were restrained, starved and punished if they tried to eat or run away.
According to the judge, cult leader Mackenzie used sermons and written materials to paint the outside world as evil and the forest as the only route to salvation. Phone messages, including WhatsApp exchanges, showed he had been in touch with followers before they moved. Survivors said deaths were celebrated as “weddings to Jesus” and the dead hailed as “heroes of faith.”
Kavedza noted that most of the convicts showed no remorse. Mackenzie, convicted of murder last month, smiled several times during the sentencing.
The search continues
Exhumations at Shakahola began in April 2023, and more than 400 bodies have been recovered. The current convictions relate only to the victims in this case, and more charges may follow.
Families respond
Stephen Mwiti lost six children after his wife, later convicted, took them to the forest to fast. He questioned why children were made to take part and said no ruling could undo his loss. Rodgers Shibutse, who identified his mother’s remains in February 2024, told CNN he was not fully satisfied, since the sentence cannot repay her life, but said the families had no other choice. He added that the cult leader cannot complete 200 years and will eventually die in prison
