Paul Mackenzie receives 200-year prison term for Shakahola child killings

A court in eastern Kenya has imposed a 200-year prison sentence on Paul Mackenzie for the deaths of 190 children in his religious compound. Justice Diana Kavedza issued the ruling on Friday, splitting the term into 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years for direct homicide. The verdict concludes a trial that prosecutors described as one of the most severe ceremonial massacres in modern history.

Mackenzie led an apocalyptic Christian church in Shakahola Forest near Malindi, a coastal town in eastern Kenya. He instructed followers to fast themselves and their children until death, promising they would reach heaven before the end of the world. His accomplices used threats and beatings to enforce compliance. Investigators later found emaciated bodies in shallow graves and latrines, with evidence that some victims were buried while still alive.

The case gained national attention in April 2023 when police began recovering bodies in the forest. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights confirmed that 448 bodies were found in Shakahola. Mackenzie faces separate charges for the deaths of 52 people located at a village site 30 kilometres away, raising the total suspected death toll to 500. He has pleaded not guilty in that second case.

Mackenzie, wearing a grey polo shirt and black trousers, entered the outdoor hearing tent with a smile. He maintained that he did not force the victims to starve, but the court rejected that defence. The scale of the killings drew comparisons to the 2000 Uganda doomsday cult deaths and the 1978 Jonestown massacre in Guyana.

Stephen Mwiti, 48, lost six of his children in the forest. His wife, a convicted accomplice, had taken the children to the site. Mwiti stated that regardless of the punishment, he could not recover his children. "I lost children and I will not be able to get them back no matter what happens to Mackenzie and his accomplices," he said. Dan Mackenzie, the defendant's son, said his father had also killed his own family members. "It's justice to the people who we lost over there in Shakahola," Dan Mackenzie said.

Authorities had monitored Mackenzie since 2017 and shut down his church in Malindi in 2019. President William Ruto appointed a task force in May 2023 to review regulations for religious groups following the discovery of the bodies. Two government-backed and Senate proposals were released in 2024 but have not yet been passed into law.

Ojiro Odhiambo, head of rapid response at the Kenya Human Rights Commission, called the conviction a key step but argued that local officials and police bore responsibility for ignoring earlier warnings. Ruto acknowledged presidential responsibility for the government's failure to prevent the deaths.