Kenya Cult Leader's Son Testifies to Starvation and Abuse

Dan Mackenzie, son of the Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie, has detailed the severe abuse and starvation inflicted upon him and other children within the controversial sect. Speaking after a court verdict against his father and other leaders, Dan Mackenzie shared that he was forced to fast for nearly a week at the age of 12 and was subjected to prolonged beatings for missing services as a child. He stated that his father's doctrine forbade education and condemned modern medicine, leading him to leave school at seven years old.

Mackenzie, who now works as a motorcycle taxi driver in the coastal town of Malindi, said he felt compelled to report his own grandmother and other family members who still adhered to his father's teachings, in order to help free his siblings. He noted that while some locals expressed anger towards him due to his father's actions, others have accepted him due to his dissociation from the cult. He expressed hope that the verdict would bring solace to the families who lost loved ones.

This testimony emerges as Mackenzie and other leaders face charges including murder, terrorism, radicalization, and denying children an education. The recent murder verdict is the first ruling on the most serious accusations, stemming from the discovery of over 400 bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest in 2023. Justice Diana Mochache, delivering the eight-hour judgment in Mombasa, stated that Mackenzie's followers believed him to be "Jesus's mouthpiece." Court accounts indicated that Mackenzie had instructed that those who resisted fasting should be forcefully sent "to heaven through kicks and blows." The judge also noted that burials in the forest were referred to as "weddings," celebrating those who died as having "wedded with Jesus."

Stephen Mwiti, who lost all six of his children to the cult, welcomed the convictions, stating he was "a happy man, that all persons have been convicted." His former wife was among those convicted of murder alongside Mackenzie. Mackenzie is scheduled to be sentenced on November 6. The initial arrest of Mackenzie in 2023 followed the grim discovery in Shakahola forest, leading to the ongoing legal proceedings.