Kenyan Court Finds Cult Leader Guilty of Murdering 191 People

A court in Mombasa has found self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie guilty of murder in the deaths of 191 people, most of them children, linked to a starvation cult in Kenya.

Al Jazeera reported that Mackenzie and several of his associates were convicted. The Independent said the 191 victims were 190 children and one adult.

Prosecutors said Mackenzie and his co-defendants ran a cult that pushed followers, above all children, to starve themselves so they could “meet Jesus”. Mackenzie pleaded not guilty, and Al Jazeera reported he also denied separate charges of terrorism, radicalisation and keeping children from school. The Independent said he denied charges of manslaughter and child torture too.

He was charged with 191 counts of murder in January 2024, and his church was banned as an organised criminal group. Al Jazeera reported he was arrested with 34 others, including other church leaders. One of them, his former head of security, Enos Amanya Ngala, took a plea deal and agreed to testify for the prosecution.

Mackenzie founded his church in Malindi in 2003.

Mackenzie still faces other proceedings. Prosecutors have charged him in connection with 52 other deaths after bodies were exhumed last year in Kwa Binzaro village, about 30 kilometres from Shakahola. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.