A Kenyan court has sentenced self-proclaimed pastor and cult leader, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, to 200 years in prison for his role in the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, in one of the country’s deadliest cult-related tragedies.
Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International Church, was sentenced on Friday, November 6, 2026, by the High Court in Mombasa, following his conviction for orchestrating the deaths of his followers through extreme starvation practices.
The prosecution had urged the court to impose the death penalty on the controversial preacher, arguing that the scale and brutality of the killings warranted the maximum punishment.
However, Justice Diana Kavedza declined to impose capital punishment, handing him a cumulative 200-year prison sentence instead.
The sentence comprises 100 years for murders committed through starvation and another 100 years for deaths resulting from direct homicide. The two sentences are to run consecutively.
Mackenzie was convicted on October 19, alongside 28 co-defendants, on 191 counts of murder involving 190 children and one adult.
The court found that he exploited his religious influence to persuade followers to abandon food and starve themselves to death in the belief that doing so would enable them to meet Jesus and enter heaven.
Investigations established that the self-styled pastor directed his followers to begin the fasting exercise with children before extending it to young people, women, and men.
Those who resisted the extreme instructions were reportedly subjected to violence, including beatings, restraint, and confinement, to force them to comply.
The case, popularly known as the Shakahola Forest Massacre, came to international attention in April 2023 after authorities uncovered mass graves containing hundreds of bodies in Shakahola Forest, Kilifi County, near the coastal town of Malindi.
More than 400 bodies were subsequently exhumed from shallow graves at the remote Chakama Ranch, where members of the religious group had reportedly settled away from public scrutiny.
During the sentencing proceedings, the court established that 183 victims died from starvation, while eight others were killed through direct acts of violence.
The judge identified Mackenzie as the principal figure behind the tragedy, holding that he abused the trust of his followers and used his religious authority to organise and sustain the deadly fasting exercise.
His co-defendants, including individuals accused of enforcing the fasting directives and helping bury victims, also received various prison sentences.
Mackenzie’s assistant pastor, Smart Mwakalama, was reportedly sentenced to 160 years in prison.
The tragedy left several families devastated, with some relatives losing multiple family members, including children, in the mass deaths.
Despite the 200-year sentence, Mackenzie is still facing separate legal proceedings involving allegations of terrorism, child abuse, and torture.
The Shakahola killings remain one of the most disturbing cases of religious extremism and exploitation of vulnerable followers in Kenya’s recent history.
