Kenyan pastor Paul Mackenzie, leader of an apocalyptic sect, was sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murder of 191 people, including 190 children and an adult, after ordering his followers to starve to meet Jesus.
© Lusa
06/11/2026
by
Lusa
Paul Mackenzie
O kenyan pastor Paul Mackenzie, leader of an apocalyptic sect, which is allegedly associated with the death of more than 400 people, was today sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murder of 191 people.
The Superior Court of the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, issued the sentence against Mackenzie, who was convicted of the murder of 190 children and an adult, after having ordered his followers to starve to meet Jesus.
Judge Diana Kavedza stated that Mackenzie, leader of the International Church of the Good News, has the “main criminal responsibility” for transferring her followers to a remote location and ordering them to fast to death.
Mackenzie was charged with the murders along with 28 of his followers, including guards who imposed their fasting orders and gravemen who helped hide the common ditches.
All denied the charges, except one of the defendants, who confessed and begged for mercy.
On October 19, the court found all 29 defendants guilty of the murder of 191 persons.
In 2023, more than 400 bodies were exhumed from mass graves in Chakama Ranch, a 320-hectare property in Kilifi Coastal County, where Mackenzie's followers lived in clay houses, far from the scrutiny of local communities and authorities.