Doomsday Cult Leader Given Life Sentence For Murdering 191 People

A Kenyan court has sentenced the leader of a doomsday cult, Paul Mackenzie, to 200 years in prison for murdering 191 people, all but one of them children.

Alongside 28 others, Mackenzie was found guilty of the murders for instructing members of his cult to starve their children to death so they could “meet Jesus”.

Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie bore the “primary criminal culpability” for ordering his followers to fast to death, in one of the world’s deadliest episodes of cult activity.

“The sentence is appropriate and just, to send an unmistakable message that such atrocities warrant the maximum penalties allowed by law,” the judge added.

The self-styled pastor was arrested in 2023 after the discovery of more than 400 bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near the Kenyan coast. The sprawling investigation into the cases shocked Kenya and drew international attention.

The court sentenced Mackenzie to 100 years in prison for homicide and another 100 years for offences related to starvation.

The sentences within each category will run concurrently, but the two sets will run consecutively, bringing his total prison term to 200 years.

Mackenzie also faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges, which he denies.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that the scale and circumstances of the killings warranted the harshest punishment.

However, Justice Mochache declined to impose the death penalty, despite ruling that the case met the threshold for its consideration.

“Nevertheless, the court declines the invitation to impose the death penalty on any of the victims,” she said, adding that capital punishment would eliminate any prospect of rehabilitation and disengagement. The death sentence has not been carried out in Kenya since 1987.

Mackenzie was tried alongside 28 accomplices, including guards who enforced his fasting orders and gravediggers who helped conceal the victims’ bodies in mass graves.

They received varying prison sentences of up to 160 years.