Doomsday preacher convicted of mass murder of 190 children, starvation deaths in Kenya cult case
The former taxi driver founded the Good News International Church in 2003, preaching increasingly apocalyptic sermons and urging his followers to starve themselves and their children to death.
Three years after Kenyan authorities discovered mass graves associated with a starvation cult overseen by evangelist Paul Mackenzie, the preacher was convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult. Mackenzie's case captivated East Africa following the discovery of over 400 bodies, with nearly half being children, in a forest near Malindi on the Indian Ocean coast in April 2023.
The former taxi driver founded the Good News International Church in 2003, delivering increasingly apocalyptic sermons and urging followers to starve themselves and their children in the hopes of hastening their passage to heaven before the world's end. In a 2023 YouTube video, Mackenzie, who had thousands of followers in person and online, claimed he was directed by "the voice of Christ" to preach about the impending apocalypse.
Mackenzie was charged with murder, manslaughter, child torture, and terrorism, despite claims of innocence. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights criticized the slow investigation and prosecution, noting that the arrest in 2017 should have prompted inquiries that could have prevented these deaths. President William Ruto acknowledged that government agencies should have been able to avert the tragedy and accepted responsibility for it.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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