Kenya: Cult leader guilty of murdering 190 children, 1 adult
Preacher Paul Mackenzie was accused of encouraging his followers to starve themselves to death. He ran a Christian doomsday cult called the Good News International Church that claimed the end of the world was imminent.
Paul Mackenzie, the leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult, has been found guilty of murdering 191 people, mostly children, according to prosecutors. The cult, led by Mackenzie, instructed members to starve their children to death, believing it would bring them closer to Jesus. Mackenzie's doctrine prohibited education and considered modern medicine as evil.
Twenty-nine other leaders of his cult were also convicted of murder, with all defendants pleading not guilty. The cult's members, from various parts of Kenya, were led to believe that resistance to fasting would result in being forced into heaven through violence. Anticipating the judge's eight-hour verdict, Mackenzie was sentenced to be determined on November 6.
The cult's members were confined to mud houses within the Shakahola forest, where they fasted and observed strict religious beliefs. The discovery of over 400 bodies in shallow graves in the forest led to the cult's downfall in March 2023.
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