Leader of Kenyan doomsday cult sentenced to 200 years in prison
[November 07, 2026]
By EVELYNE MUSAMBI
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult linked to the
deaths of more than 400 people was sentenced on Friday to 200 years in
prison for the murders of 191 people.
The High Court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa issued the sentence
for Pastor Paul Mackenzie. He was convicted of murdering 190 children
and one adult after he ordered his followers to starve themselves to
death in order to meet Jesus.
Mackenzie is also facing terrorism and manslaughter charges for the more
than 200 other victims, as well as child abuse and torture charges in
two other courts.
Justice Diana Kavedza said that Mackenzie, leader of the Good News
International Church, bore the “primary criminal culpability” for
relocating his followers to a remote location and ordering them to fast
to death.
Mackenzie was charged with the murders alongside 28 of his followers,
including guards who enforced his fasting directives and gravediggers
who helped conceal the mass graves. All denied the charges, except for
one person who confessed and pleaded for leniency.
On Oct. 19, the court found all 29 of them guilty of the murder of 191
people.
In 2023, more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves on the
800-acre (320-hectare) Chakama Ranch in coastal Kilifi County, where
Mackenzie’s followers lived in mud huts, away from the scrutiny of local
communities and authorities.
More than 60 bodies were positively identified and reburied by their
relatives, while many others remain unidentified and unclaimed.
During the sentencing, Kavedza said that 183 victims died of starvation,
defined as a complete lack of food, and the deaths of the other eight
were classified as murder by direct homicide.
Kavedza said the killings were “cold and calculated” and dismissed
claims by some of the accused that the loss of their own children
altered the fact that they had participated in the killings of many
other children.
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Good News International Church pastor Paul Mackenzie, who has been
convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult, awaits for
sentencing at the Mombasa High Court in Mombasa, Kenya, Friday, Nov.
6, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
The justice said that the perpetrators didn't show remorse and
declared they were ready to fast to death as well. During the
sentencing, Mackenzie often smiled and chatted with his assistant
pastor, Smart Mwakalama, who was sentenced to 160 years in prison.
All of those who were convicted have been granted 14 days to file an
appeal.
The prosecution had argued for the death penalty for Mackenzie and
life imprisonment for his accomplices.
Defense lawyer Lawrence Obonyo, who represents Mackenzie and several
others who were convicted, told The Associated Press that he had
already launched an appeal. He said that the decision was “circling
around the constitution to give a sentence that is unattainable”
since the sentences of between 160 and 200 years amount to life
sentences.
A father of seven, Suleiman Ziro, who traveled 120 kilometers (75
miles) for the sentencing, lost six of his children and his wife to
the cult in 2023. He said that the sentence wasn't enough especially
because he has yet to recover the bodies of his loved ones, calling
for the death penalty in the case.
Mackenzie's son, Dan Mackenzie, said that he felt sorry for his
father over the conviction, but it was “justice served to the
victims." He said that he escaped by “rebelling” against his
father's teachings and was often punished for it, but was glad he
survived. Two of his younger brothers and three sisters were rescued
and are currently at a children's home.
Those sentenced to death in Kenyan courts serve a life sentence.
Kenya’s last execution was in 1987.
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