Paul Mackenzie found guilty over 191 Shakahola deaths
The High Court in Mombasa convicted the preacher and his co-accused over the starvation deaths of followers, most of them children.
Based on reporting by Citizen Digital and The Kenya Times.
The Galana River at Shakahola, Kilifi County. File photo, 2026. Photo: Dasegrama16 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped
The High Court in Mombasa has found preacher Paul Mackenzie and his co-accused guilty over the deaths of 191 people in Shakahola forest, Kilifi County. Prosecutors said 190 of the victims were children.
Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache delivered the judgment on Monday, after a trial in which the prosecution called 121 witnesses and relied on post-mortem reports and government analysts' findings. Citizen Digital reported that 28 co-accused were convicted alongside Mackenzie.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie led his followers into extreme fasting between 2021 and 2023, telling them that starving would let them meet Jesus, and that children were made to fast first. Post-mortems found starvation and, in some cases, signs of asphyxia, neck compression and head injuries.
The defence had argued that the case rested on circumstantial evidence, hearsay and inconclusive forensic findings. The accused pleaded not guilty in 2024.
Citizen Digital reported that sentencing is set for 6 November. Mackenzie also faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
