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Kenyan sect leader faces death penalty over 190 child murders
Paul Mackenzie, leader of a Kenyan religious sect, faces a possible death sentence after being convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult by urging followers to starve themselves to meet Jesus. The case has renewed calls for stronger oversight of religious organisations, amid criticism that authorities failed to intervene sooner.
Mackenzie was convicted last month alongside 28 co-accused for crimes committed between January 2021 and September 2023; his lawyer says he will appeal. Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty for Mackenzie and life imprisonment for the others, while Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987. The Shakahola Forest death toll was put at 429 by a human rights commission in 2024, and some victims remain unidentified.
In short
- Mackenzie faces a possible death sentence after conviction.
- He was found guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult.
- The Shakahola Forest death toll was estimated at 429.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Starvation cult leader faces death sentence for murdering 190 children by telling followers if they stopped eating they’d die and ‘meet Jesus’”.