A Kenyan court found doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie and about 30 other individuals guilty of murder on Monday. The ruling covers the deaths of 190 children and one adult in one of the worst cult-related disasters in recent history.
Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache delivered the judgment during an eight-hour hearing at the Mombasa high court. The current verdict addressed 191 deaths, while investigations into additional fatalities go on.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie and his Good News International Church formed a Christian sect that instructed followers to starve themselves and their children to death to reach heaven before the end of the world.
Mackenzie denied the murder charges and argued he did not force the victims to starve. The court rejected this defence.
Justice Mochache stated that in certain instances, children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched.
Authorities first arrested Mackenzie in 2023 after a tipoff. Weeks later, police began discovering bodies in shallow graves across the Shakahola forest near the coast in south-eastern Kenya.
More than 400 bodies have been recovered from the forest overall. Many remains were severely decomposed, and authorities managed to identify only 26 of them.
Mackenzie attended the court session wearing a striped polo shirt and red trousers, sitting beside his wife, who is a co-accused. He remained silent and stared into space before the ruling.
Relatives of victims gathered at the Mombasa high court to hear the judgment. Francis Wanje lost eight family members, including two grandchildren, to the cult.
Speaking prior to the verdict, Francis Wanje said it had been a heavy burden for his family and caused severe psychological problems.
Mackenzie faces additional charges related to the forest deaths, including terrorism-related counts, which he has denied. He has also pleaded not guilty in a separate case involving the deaths of 52 people in Kwa Binzaro village.
