Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie guilty of murder in 191 starvation deaths

A Kenyan court on Monday found preacher Paul Mackenzie guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult, 191 deaths in total. France 24 reports he was convicted on all charges. Al Jazeera says he instructed followers to starve themselves to reach heaven.

The Guardian reports that about 30 other people were also found guilty. Al Jazeera earlier described this as the first judgement in the case.

Prosecutors say Mackenzie and his Good News International Church set up a sect that ordered followers to starve themselves and their children. Deutsche Welle describes the church as a Christian doomsday cult that claimed the end of the world was imminent. CBS News reports he was alleged to have urged followers to starve so they could "meet Jesus."

Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after police received a tipoff, The Guardian reports. Weeks later, authorities began finding bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest in south-eastern Kenya. France 24 says hundreds of bodies have been found since 2023 at the cult base, inland from the resort town of Malindi. The case became known as the "Shakahola Forest Massacre."