The High Court of Mombasa sentenced on Friday, November 6, the leader of the Shakahola sect, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, to 200 years in prison for the murder of 190 children and one adult in Kenya. Judge Diana Kavedza handed down the sentence following the guilty verdict delivered on October 19 against the preacher and 28 co-defendants.
The sentence consists of two sets. Mackenzie received one hundred years for each of the 183 murders by starvation, sentences served concurrently, then one hundred years for each of the eight direct homicides, also served concurrently. The court ordered that these two sets be served consecutively, bringing the total to 200 years.
The first 183 victims included 182 children and one adult, while the eight direct homicides involved children. Fifteen co-defendants were sentenced to 160 years in prison, ten others to 140 years, one to one hundred years, and two to ten years.
According to the court’s findings, Mackenzie had ordered his followers to fast in order to reach paradise, and officials enforced these instructions through beatings, restraints, and confinement. The founder of the Good News International Church denied forcing the victims to die, but the court rejected his defense.
The case broke out in April 2023 with the discovery of bodies in the Shakahola forest, near Malindi. The Kenyan National Human Rights Commission indicated that 448 remains were ultimately found there, while the trial concluded on Friday concerned 191 victims.
Mackenzie remains prosecuted in separate proceedings for terrorism, involuntary manslaughter, child abuse, and torture. These charges were not part of the sentence handed down on Friday in Mombasa.
Lawyer Lawrence Obonyo, who represents Mackenzie and most of the other convicted individuals, announced that he would appeal the judgment.
