In brief

• A Mombasa High Court sentenced Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for the deaths of 191 people.
• Most victims were children who were starved to death on his orders.
• Dozens of co-accused, including guards and gravediggers, were also convicted and received terms of up to 160 years.

Sentence handed down in Mombasa

The High Court in Mombasa sentenced Paul Mackenzie, a self-proclaimed pastor who led an apocalyptic Christian sect in eastern Kenya, to 200 years in prison. The court gave him 100 years for murders carried out by deliberate starvation and another 100 years for murders involving direct violence against children (Weltuntergang gepredigt: Sektenführer in Kenia wegen Mordes an 190 Kindern verurteilt – ZEIT ONLINE) (Afrika - Sektenführer in Kenia zu 200 Jahren Haft verurteilt – Deutschlandfunk).

Deaths linked to promises of meeting Jesus

Judge Diana Mochache said Mackenzie bore the main responsibility for ordering followers to fast until they died, calling it one of the most tragic episodes involving a religious sect in the world („Mieli iść na spotkanie z Jezusem”. Pastor skazał 190 dzieci na śmierć głodową – RMF24). Judges found that he had told his followers they would meet Jesus if they starved themselves to death. Most of the 191 victims were children (Kenia: Sektenführer wegen Massenmordes zu 200 Jahren Haft verurteilt – ZEIT ONLINE).

Co-accused and burial of the bodies

Mackenzie was tried alongside 28 co-accused, including guards who enforced the fasting order and gravediggers who helped hide the bodies in mass graves. They received prison terms of up to 160 years. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty, arguing that the scale of the killings justified the harshest sentence.

Discovery in Shakahola forest

Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023 after human rights groups alerted authorities to the sect. Police then found more than 400 bodies in a forest near Shakahola (Obiecywał spotkanie z Jezusem, skazywał na śmierć. W lesie znaleziono 429 ciał – Rzeczpospolita). One report said a relative of a sect family had told police that parents, acting on Mackenzie's instruction, had starved their own children.

Court findings and what comes next

Mackenzie had already been found guilty of murdering 191 people in October. The sentencing closes the murder case against him in Kenya. Reports do not specify further proceedings against the co-accused or the wider investigation into the sect's activities beyond the verdicts already announced (Au Kenya, le gourou qui encourageait ses disciples à mourir de faim pour « rencontrer Jésus » condamné à deux cents ans de prison – Le Monde) (Vůdce keňské sekty dostal za vraždu 190 dětí a dospělého 200 let vězení. Jeho oběti umíraly hladem – iROZHLAS).