Kenyan starvation cult leader convicted of murder over deaths of 190 children, one adult
MOMBASA, Kenya -
asserted
leader → convict → children
A Kenyan court on Oct 19 found starvation cult leader Paul Mackenzie and about 30 others guilty of murder over the deaths of 190 children and one adult in one of the world’s worst cult-related disasters in recent history.
asserted
Mackenzie → find → history
Mackenzie and his co-accused will be given their sentence on Nov 6.
asserted
Mackenzie → give → Nov
Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after police received a tip-off, and weeks later the authorities began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola Forest near the coast in south-eastern Kenya.
asserted
authorities → arrest → Kenya
Prosecutors say Mackenzie and his Good News International Church organised a Christian doomsday sect in which they ordered followers to starve themselves and their children to death to go to heaven before the world ended.
asserted
world → say → heaven
Mackenzie denied murder charges, saying he did not force the victims to starve, but the court rejected that argument.
asserted
court → deny → argument
In total, more than 400 bodies have been recovered from the Shakahola Forest.
asserted
bodies → recover → Forest
Many were severely decomposed, with only 26 bodies able to be identified.
asserted
bodies → decompose → ?
The judgment on Oct 19 covered 191 deaths while investigations into the other deaths are ongoing.
asserted
investigations → cover → deaths
Families in court to hear verdict
Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache said in a hearing lasting more than eight hours that in some cases children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched.
asserted
parents → hear → food
Mackenzie was in court, wearing a striped polo shirt and red trousers, sitting alongside his wife who is one of the co-accused.
When his name was read out by the judge he stood silently, staring into space.
asserted
he → wear → space
Family members of some of those who died in the forest gathered to hear the judgment at Mombasa High Court.
asserted
who → die → Court
Francis Wanje, 62, lost eight family members including two grandchildren to the cult.
asserted
Wanje → lose → cult
Speaking before the verdict, he told Reuters: “It has been really a heavy thing (for) us as a family, and it has really taken us very far in terms of psychological problems, ...
asserted
it → speak → problems
I was hoping for this particular day.
asserted
I → hop → day
The Shakahola tragedy has gripped Kenya since the discovery of mass graves in the coastal forest more than three years ago.
asserted
tragedy → grip → forest
It raised questions over how Mackenzie was able to continue to operate despite having been on the radar of the authorities since 2017 when his premises were searched by police.
asserted
premises → raise → police
In 2019, authorities shut down Mackenzie’s church and he relocated to the Shakahola Forest, police said.
asserted
police → shut → Forest
The case has also led to calls for tougher oversight of churches and other religious organisations in a country where religious faith plays a prominent role in public life.
asserted
faith → lead → life
Kenyan President William Ruto said in 2023 that government agencies should have been able to prevent the deaths.
asserted
agencies → say → deaths
He said he took responsibility as president.
asserted
he → say → president
Children were first to starve
People with direct knowledge of the cult’s activities told Reuters that Mackenzie planned the mass starvation in three phases: first children, then women and young men, and finally the remaining men.
asserted
Mackenzie → starve → phases
A former taxi driver, Mackenzie forbade cult members from sending their children to school and from going to hospital when they were ill, branding such institutions as Satanic, some of his followers told Reuters for a 2023 article.
asserted
some → forbid → article
Cult members lived in makeshift homes of polythene sheeting and thatch that Mackenzie divided into areas with biblical names like Jerusalem and Judea.
asserted
Mackenzie → live → Jerusalem
The plight of his followers began to emerge in mid-March 2023, when a local man told police that his brother and wife had starved their children to death in the forest on Mackenzie’s orders.
asserted
brother → begin → orders
Mackenzie was arrested but released on bail, after which relatives say he brought forward the date on which he told his followers the world would end.
asserted
world → arrest → followers
Police arrested him again in April 2023 and started combing through the forest more systematically and began exhuming mass graves.
asserted
Police → arrest → graves
Mackenzie faces other charges over the forest deaths including terrorism-related ones, which he has denied.
asserted
he → face → which
Prosecutors say while he was in detention he also directed the deaths of 52 people in Kwa Binzaro village, which lies about 30km from Shakahola.
asserted
which → say → Shakahola
Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty in that case.
asserted
Mackenzie → plead → case
The Aporia
