Doomsday cult pastor Paul Mackenzie and 28 co-defendants were found guilty in Kenya of murdering 191 people, including 190 children.
Self-proclaimed doomsday cult pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 28 of his top church leaders have been found guilty of mass murder in Kenya for ordering and forcing hundreds of followers, including 190 young children, to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus before the end of the world.
The historic court verdict was delivered on Monday, October 19, 2026, by Justice Diana Mochache at the High Court in Kenya.
The legal ruling officially ends a long criminal trial following the horrific discovery of over four hundred shallow graves hidden deep inside the remote Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County after Mackenzie’s initial police arrest in 2023.
The judge found that Paul Mackenzie, who led the Good News International Church, created a dangerous radical belief system that instructed followers to stop eating food, abandon school education, refuse hospital medicine, and isolate themselves from modern society.
Describing how the cult members viewed the leader and followed his deadly instructions without question, Justice Diana Mochache stated during the ruling that followers believed Mackenzie was “Jesus’s mouthpiece”.
The court revealed that the starvation regime inside the forest was strictly enforced by church guards and supervisors who beat up anyone trying to eat food or escape.
Testifying about the violent beatings inflicted on members who refused to fast, a co-accused follower confessed that Mackenzie ordered that anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows”.
Graphic witness testimonies presented in court exposed how innocent newborn babies and pregnant women were starved until they lost their lives.
Recalling a heartbreaking scene inside the forest camp, a witness testified that a pregnant woman was stopped from nursing her newborn, who died 12 days later, adding: “She was instructed to fast to de@th and follow her children.”
Grieving father Stephen Mwiti, who lost his entire family to the cult doctrines, expressed relief following the guilty verdict delivered against the cult leaders.
Welcoming the court judgment, Stephen Mwiti stated: “I’m a happy man, that all persons have been convicted.”
Mourning his painful loss, Stephen Mwiti added: “All six of my children died in Shakahola forest. I only found and b¥ried the remains of my son Samuel.”
Local gravediggers hired by the police to dig up the shallow graves inside the dense forest shared horrifying memories of discovering mass graves filled with young children stacked on top of one another.
Describing the massive graves uncovered during rescue operations, a gravedigger named James told reporters: “Every grave we found had at least three bodies. Some of the remains were of children as young as a few weeks old.”
Highlighting how bodies were dumped together in deep trenches, James added: “We once found 12 bodies of children in a line inside a grave. It was massive; the bodies were arranged like clothes. One on top of another.”
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Explaining how secretive transport operated to carry people into the forest, motorcycle gravedigger Salim Karisa noted: “We would sometimes carry people on our motorbikes into the forest. But it was so planned and secretive that nobody could tell what was happening inside.”
Despite the horror, some survivors rescued from the forest remain brainwashed, including Peter Shukrani, whose mother threw away his medicine.
Recalling how his mother stopped his treatment, Peter Shukrani stated: “My mother believed Pastor Mackenzie’s doctrine that medicine was evil. I would have died if I wasn’t rescued from Shakahola forest.”
Showing continued loyalty to the convict, Shukrani added: “Mackenzie didn’t force anyone to fast. People made those choices by themselves because of their beliefs. I still love him, and he is still my pastor.”
However, Mackenzie’s own son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, openly condemned his father’s actions in court.
Holding his father accountable for orchestrating the mass tragedy, Dan Paul Mackenzie declared: “He was the leader; he was someone who they were looking up to. So he is a murderer of mass killings.”
All 29 convicted cult figures remain in prison custody awaiting their official sentencing hearing scheduled for November 6, 2026.
Jennifer Baba is a journalist, international news correspondent, and writer at Moderncrux, where she covers artificial intelligence, fintech, emerging technologies, global politics, and international affairs. Based in Nigeria, she is passionate about transforming complex global developments into clear, engaging stories that inform and inspire readers.
