A Kenyan court has sentenced Paul Mackenzie, the leader of a doomsday religious sect, to 200 years in prison for his role in the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, in a case that ranks among the country's deadliest cult-related tragedies.
Mackenzie, who led the Good News International Church, received the sentence from a court in the coastal city of Mombasa, two weeks after being found guilty of murder.
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The punishment comprises 100 years for deaths caused through starvation and another 100 years for direct homicide.
According to prosecutors, Mackenzie indoctrinated his followers into believing that death through prolonged fasting was their passage to salvation, directing them to deprive themselves and their children of food in preparation for the world's predicted end.
The prosecution also alleged that Mackenzie's associates used threats and physical violence to ensure compliance with his instructions.
Some followers were subjected to physical abuse, confined and deprived of food, while children were reportedly taken away from their parents to ensure they complied with the sect's practices.
The full extent of the killings came to light in 2023, when police launched an investigation into reports of deaths in the Shakahola forest, near Kenya's southeastern coastline.
Authorities subsequently discovered mass graves containing bodies of people believed to have followed the preacher's instructions.
More than 400 bodies have since been recovered from the forest. Many were so badly decomposed that forensic teams could identify only 26 victims.
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Investigators also found evidence suggesting that some victims had been buried alive, while others were left in shallow graves or disposed of in latrines.
The latest judgment relates to 191 deaths, while investigations into more than 200 additional deaths are continuing.
During a hearing that lasted more than eight hours, Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache described how children in some instances were isolated and deprived of food even as their parents watched.
The court rejected Mackenzie's defence that he had not forced his followers to starve.
The case first came to light in March 2023, when a man approached police and reported that his brother and sister-in-law had allegedly starved their children to death in the forest on Mackenzie's instructions.
Mackenzie was initially arrested but later released on bail. Following his release, relatives alleged that he advanced the date of his predicted apocalypse.
Police subsequently rearrested him and intensified searches across Shakahola, leading to the discovery of additional mass graves.
Investigations also raised questions about how the preacher had continued operating despite attracting the attention of authorities as early as 2017.
Police had searched his premises, and his church was shut down in 2019. Authorities said he subsequently moved his followers to the Shakahola forest.
A former taxi driver, Mackenzie reportedly discouraged followers from sending their children to school or seeking medical treatment, describing educational and healthcare institutions as satanic.
Members of the sect lived in makeshift shelters made of polythene sheets and thatch, with different settlements given biblical names such as Jerusalem and Judea.
The case has intensified demands for tighter government oversight of religious institutions in Kenya, where faith-based organisations wield considerable influence.
Mackenzie continues to face other charges connected to the deaths in the forest, including terrorism-related offences, which he has denied.
Prosecutors have also accused him of directing the deaths of 52 people in Kwa Binzaro village while in detention. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
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