Kenyan Pastor Faces Verdict in Mass Starvation Case

A Kenyan court is set to deliver a judgment in a mass murder case against doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie and 29 of his followers. The group faces charges for the murder of 191 children, with prosecutors alleging they forced children to starve to death as part of a doctrine that forbade education and condemned modern medicine.

Mackenzie and his co-accused have pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, maintaining that no one was coerced into dying. However, authorities have discovered over 400 bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest, near the Kenyan coast, where Mackenzie led his followers. Seventeen men were reportedly hired to dig up the graves, some earning approximately $8 (£6) per day.

Gravediggers described finding multiple bodies in single graves, including those of infants. Some child remains were reportedly found with their hands and legs tied and bodies wrapped in bedsheets. Mackenzie's former head of security, Enos Amanya Ngala, has entered a plea deal and is now testifying as a prosecution witness.

Prosecutors allege that Mackenzie, while in prison, continued to lure victims to their deaths through notes. In addition to murder charges, Mackenzie and other cult leaders face legal cases for terrorism, radicalization, and denying education to children. This marks the first time the pastor will face a verdict on the most severe murder charges.

According to Mackenzie's son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, who worked as a cameraperson in the church, children would sit at the back during morning worship songs before his father's sermons began at noon. The main church reportedly shut down in 2019, after which Paul Mackenzie relocated to Shakahola forest and encouraged his devotees to join him.

Peter Shukrani, a former follower, recounted how his mother discarded his medicine, believing only God could heal him, as medication was banned within the forest community. The community lived in mud houses, adhering to a lifestyle of fasting for days before consuming small meals. By March 2023, when the first remains were discovered by local herders, hundreds had died. Shukrani himself was rescued from the forest in March 2023, having been gravely ill due to the denial of medical treatment.

Court documents detail that all 191 victims in the current murder case are children. Many bodies remain unidentified due to advanced decomposition. Despite the suffering, Shukrani expressed continued belief in Mackenzie as a caring person and his pastor, stating that followers made the choice to fast themselves. In contrast, Dan Paul Mackenzie believes his father, as the leader, is responsible for mass murder.