Cult ‘Church’ Leader Receives Sentencing For Killing 190 Children

Paul Mackenzie, founder of Good News International Church, has been sentenced in Kenya to 200 years in prison over the deaths of 190 children and one adult. The case centres on his use of religious teachings to persuade followers to fast in the Shakahola Forest, where guards and punishment enforced his rules.

The Mombasa High Court imposed 100 years for the deaths of 183 people who starved and 100 years for eight people who were suffocated, strangled or beaten. Twenty-eight followers, including guards, were also convicted of murder. Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after a tip-off; he faces separate charges of terrorism, child abuse and torture.