A Kenyan court has sentenced self-proclaimed pastor and doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for orchestrating the deaths of 191 people, most of them children, by forcing his followers to starve themselves and their children to death in the belief that they would meet Jesus.
Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 other members of his cult for their roles in the killings, which have been described as one of the deadliest cases of cult-related deaths in the world, reports BBC.
Delivering the sentence, Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie bore the primary responsibility for directing his followers to undertake deadly fasting.
She described the punishment as justified and necessary to send a strong message that such horrific crimes deserve the maximum penalties permitted under the law.
The court sentenced Mackenzie to 100 years in prison for homicide and another 100 years for offences linked to starvation. While the sentences under each category will run concurrently, the two separate terms will run consecutively, bringing his total prison sentence to 200 years.
Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after investigators discovered more than 400 bodies buried in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near Kenya's coastal region. The discovery triggered a massive investigation that shocked the country and attracted international attention.
He also faces separate charges of manslaughter and terrorism, which he has denied.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that the scale and brutality of the killings justified the harshest possible punishment.
Although Justice Mochache said the case met the legal threshold for considering capital punishment, she decided against imposing it, saying the death penalty would eliminate the possibility of rehabilitation and disengagement.
Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987.
The 28 co-defendants, including guards who enforced Mackenzie's fasting instructions and individuals who helped bury the victims, received prison terms ranging up to 160 years.
The judge described the killings as deliberate and carefully planned, noting that the perpetrators had shown no remorse and had even expressed their willingness to starve themselves to death.
Before Friday's sentencing hearing, Francis Wanje, who lost eight family members, including two grandchildren, in the Shakahola tragedy, told the BBC's Newsday programme that he hoped Mackenzie would receive a punishment reflecting the severity of his actions.
Mackenzie and his co-accused had appealed for leniency. Before their conviction on October 19, all of them had pleaded not guilty and repeatedly maintained that nobody had been forced to die.
More than 400 bodies recovered from Shakahola forest
In her eight-hour judgment delivered last month, Justice Mochache said Mackenzie's followers regarded him as the mouthpiece of Jesus.
She found that those who challenged his teachings were subjected to violence and, in some cases, beaten to death.
One of the co-accused reportedly admitted that Mackenzie had instructed followers who resisted fasting to be forced into compliance through physical violence, including kicks and blows.
The judge also said burials in the forest where the cult operated were referred to as "weddings", while those who died were celebrated as having been united with Jesus.
According to the court, the deaths resulted from an organised system of religious teachings and instructions that compelled followers to undertake extreme fasting.
Post-mortem examinations found that most victims died of starvation, while others were killed through suffocation, strangulation or head injuries.
In some cases, the causes of death could not be established because the bodies had decomposed. Others died shortly after being rescued because they were severely malnourished.
The Shakahola tragedy has raised serious questions about the monitoring of religious organisations and the failure of authorities to prevent extremist religious practices from continuing unchecked.
The scale of the killings prompted Kenyan President William Ruto to establish a commission of inquiry, although the initiative was later declared unconstitutional.
An investigation by the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) found that local administrative officials and law enforcement agencies had repeatedly ignored warnings about the cult's activities.
Wanje said he had reported the incident to police in March 2023 but was disappointed that authorities did not immediately move to rescue other people trapped in the forest.
He said a relative working in the police force, together with a former cult member, had managed to rescue his grandson.
The child later informed police about the incident and showed them the graves of his siblings.
Wanje said his grandson had been close to becoming another victim.
Cult leader had previously been arrested
Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003, and the church gradually expanded over the following 16 years, attracting thousands of followers through branches across Kenya.
The organisation also operated a television station, Times TV, which broadcast Mackenzie's sermons from its church in Malindi.
His sermons about the end of the world included conspiracy theories portraying education as evil, healthcare as contrary to religious teachings and digital identity cards as the "mark of the devil".
The main church closed in 2019, after which Mackenzie relocated to Shakahola forest and encouraged his followers to join him there.
The cult leader had previously been arrested but was later released because of insufficient evidence.
Although the conclusion of the murder trial may provide some measure of justice for victims' families, the convictions cover only 191 deaths, despite more than 400 bodies having been recovered from Shakahola forest.