Paul Mackenzie Sentenced to 200 Years in Kenya Child Deaths
MOMBASA, Kenya — A Kenyan court has sentenced Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison, a ruling that holds the Good News International Church founder
MOMBASA, Kenya — A Kenyan court has sentenced Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison, a ruling that holds the Good News International Church founder responsible for the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children. The judgment was delivered Friday at the Mombasa High Court.
The case also convicted 28 co-defendants, while the wider investigation remains tied to hundreds of suspected victims. Mackenzie received 100 years for deaths caused by starvation and another 100 years for murders carried out directly.
How the court linked Mackenzie to the deaths
Prosecutors said Mackenzie urged followers to fast, including their children, because he claimed the world would end and they needed to reach heaven. A Kenyan Senate report described the beliefs behind his teachings as “doomsday or end-times” beliefs.
Justice Diana Kavedza said Mackenzie bore primary responsibility for moving followers to a remote location and ordering them to fast to death. The court found that accomplices threatened and beat people to enforce the instructions.
Investigators found bodies in shallow graves and latrines in Shakahola Forest. Some victims had been buried alive. The 191 deaths in the murder case comprised 190 children and one adult.
Mackenzie denied forcing followers to starve and rejected the murder allegations. The court convicted him alongside 28 followers; they were found guilty in October, and the other defendants received prison terms of varying lengths.
Why the judge rejected the death penalty
Kavedza said she chose not to impose capital punishment because it could reinforce the convicts’ belief that death would reunite them with Jesus, rather than deter them. She also wanted to preserve the possibility that they could help locate the remains of missing children.
The sentence addresses the deaths prosecuted in this case, but it is not the only legal matter involving Mackenzie. He also faces terrorism and manslaughter charges related to more than 200 other victims, as well as child abuse and torture charges in two other courts.
That leaves further proceedings ahead. The other cases may examine alleged crimes involving people beyond the 191 victims covered by the murder conviction.
The scale of the wider tragedy remains stark: more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves in 2023, while authorities have cited 500 suspected victims. The sentencing therefore marks a major step in accountability, but the separate charges and search for missing children remain unresolved.
Kavedza’s decision also tied the court’s next concern to the families still waiting for answers: Mackenzie and his co-defendants may be able to help investigators locate missing children’s remains.
