A Kenyan court has convicted self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie and 28 other leaders of his religious group over the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, in the infamous Shakahola Forest massacre.
The BBC reported on Monday that the defendants were accused of directing followers to starve themselves and their children to death in the belief that they would meet Jesus.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty, maintaining that nobody had been forced to die.
Delivering an eight-hour judgment in Mombasa, Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie’s followers regarded him as “Jesus’s mouthpiece”.
According to evidence presented in court, one of Mackenzie’s co-accused said the pastor instructed followers to use violence against anyone who refused to fast.
The co-accused reportedly told the court that those who resisted the directive were to be forced to “go to heaven through kicks and blows”.
The court also heard that burials in the forest were referred to as “weddings”, while those who died were described as having “wedded with Jesus”.
Seventeen men from a nearby town were reportedly hired to dig shallow graves in the forest, with some earning as little as $8 a day.
One gravedigger, identified as James, told the BBC that every grave he encountered contained at least three bodies, including those of babies only a few weeks old.
He recalled finding 12 children arranged in a single grave, with their bodies stacked on top of one another. Workers also reported discovering children whose hands and legs had been tied and whose bodies were wrapped in bedsheets.
Another gravedigger, Salim Karisa, said members of the group sometimes visited neighbouring Shakahola town to buy supplies and collect water from the River Galana.
Although some residents transported people into the forest on motorbikes, Karisa said the activities were so secretive that outsiders could not tell what was happening inside.
How Mackenzie Built His Following
Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003 and attracted thousands of followers through church branches across Kenya over the following 16 years.
The church also operated Times TV, a television station that broadcast his sermons from Malindi.
His teachings reportedly described formal education as evil, healthcare as contrary to religious doctrine and digital identity cards as “the mark of the devil”.
After the church’s main branch closed in 2019, Mackenzie moved to Shakahola Forest and encouraged his followers to join him there.
His son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, who worked as a cameraperson for the church, recalled that children sat at the back during worship services, adults occupied the middle, and members sang throughout the morning before his father began preaching around noon.
Some sessions reportedly included what was described as casting out demons.
Among those who moved to the forest was Peter Shukrani, 23, who joined the church at the age of eight and regarded Mackenzie as his spiritual father.
Shukrani said members lived in mud houses scattered across the forest, fasting for days before taking small meals.
He also recounted how his mother discarded his medication because she believed God alone could heal him. His condition deteriorated, leaving him bedridden for weeks before he was rescued.
“My mother believed Pastor Mackenzie’s doctrine that medicine was evil. I would have died if I wasn’t rescued from Shakahola forest,” he said.
Despite his experience, Shukrani continued to defend the pastor, insisting that followers chose to fast because of their beliefs.
He described Mackenzie as a good person who cared for him and said he still considered him his pastor.
Dan Mackenzie, however, argued that his father should be held responsible for the deaths because of his leadership role in the group.
Local herders discovered the first bodies in March 2023, revealing the scale of the deaths in what became known as the Shakahola Forest massacre.
Karisa said some victims were so weakened by starvation that they died while being transported out of the forest.
Many recovered bodies remained unidentified because of decomposition. Court records reportedly listed several victims as “unknown male child”, distinguishing them by the locations of their graves and the dates they were discovered.
The case drew international attention to allegations of starvation, strangulation and beatings within the group.
The convictions mark a major development in the prosecution of those accused of involvement in one of Kenya’s most notorious cult-related tragedies.
