A Kenyan High Court in Mombasa sentenced Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, to 200 years in prison on Friday for the murders of 191 people. Mackenzie was convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult after he directed his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus.
The sentencing follows a 2023 investigation that uncovered more than 400 bodies in shallow graves on the 800-acre Chakama Ranch in coastal Kilifi County. Mackenzie had relocated his followers to the remote site, where they lived in mud huts. Justice Diana Kavedza stated that Mackenzie bore the "primary criminal culpability" for the deaths, noting that 183 victims died of starvation and eight others died by direct homicide.
Alongside Mackenzie, 28 followers were charged for their roles as guards who enforced fasting directives or gravediggers who concealed the remains. All 29 defendants were found guilty on October 19. Mackenzie’s assistant pastor, Smart Mwakalama, received a 160-year sentence. While prosecutors sought the death penalty for Mackenzie, he remains in custody facing additional charges of terrorism, child abuse, and torture in other courts.
The case impacts the legal and religious landscape in Kenya by establishing a record of criminal liability for religious leaders who direct followers to engage in self-harm. The scale of the recovery operation, which involved 429 deaths and hundreds of shallow graves, previously overwhelmed local infrastructure, causing morgues to run out of space and forcing pauses in excavations. Victims' families have questioned the effectiveness of local law enforcement, as Mackenzie had been arrested in 2017 and 2019 on related charges but was released or acquitted before the mass deaths occurred.
Moving forward, Mackenzie faces separate trials for terrorism and torture. The 200-year sentence provides a baseline for his incarceration while these additional cases proceed through the Kenyan court system. Mackenzie, who established his ministry in 2003 and previously worked as a taxi driver, remains in state custody.