A Kenyan court has sentenced self-proclaimed preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years in prison over the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, in the notorious Shakahola massacre.
Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International Church, was handed a 100-year prison sentence for the deaths of the children and an additional 100 years for the death of an adult.
The court found him guilty of leading his followers into an extreme fasting exercise that resulted in the deaths of believers and their children.
The case came to international attention in 2023 after investigators discovered hundreds of bodies buried in mass graves in Shakahola Forest, near Malindi, in Kenya’s coastal region.
The discovery sparked widespread outrage and renewed concerns over religious extremism, cult activities and the exploitation of vulnerable followers by religious leaders.
The Shakahola massacre remains one of Kenya’s most disturbing cases of religiously motivated mass deaths, prompting authorities to intensify scrutiny of religious organisations and their activities.
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