Paul Mackenzie, the founder of the Good News International Church, has been sentenced to 200 years in prison by the Mombasa High Court for the murder of 191 people. The victims, 190 of whom were children, died following a campaign of forced fasting and abuse in the Shakahola Forest. Mackenzie had convinced his followers that starving themselves was necessary to reach heaven before the world ended.
Lady Justice Diana Kavedza declined to impose the death penalty, noting that it might reinforce the convicts' belief that death would reunite them with Jesus and could hinder efforts to locate missing remains. The court found that 183 victims died from starvation, while eight children were killed by suffocation, strangulation, or blunt force trauma. Guards had been employed to prevent followers from leaving the forest and to enforce the fasting regime.
Authorities began exhuming bodies from the forest in April 2023, and more than 400 remains have been recovered to date. While Mackenzie was convicted for 191 deaths in this specific case, he and over two dozen co-defendants face the possibility of further charges. Survivors and relatives of the victims expressed that while the sentencing provides some measure of justice, it cannot compensate for the loss of their families.
