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NEW YORK Friday, November 6, 2026

Africa

Cult Leader Sentenced to 200 Years for Starvation Deaths of 190 Children

Kenyan court convicts Paul Mackenzie for causing deaths through starvation and violence.

New York Editorial News Desk November 6, 2026 1 min read

The Brief

  • Mackenzie received 200-year sentence for causing 190 child deaths via starvation.
  • 100 years for murder by starvation, 100 for direct homicide, accomplices got 10–160 years.
  • Followers were forced to starve, with some beaten or locked in graves.

A Kenyan court sentenced cult leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for the starvation deaths of 190 children, effectively a life term.

The sentence includes 100 years for murder by starvation and another 100 years for direct homicide, according to Reuters. His 28 accomplices received sentences ranging from 10 to 160 years.

Mackenzie led the Good News International Church in the Shakahola Forest, near the Indian Ocean in eastern Kenya. He instructed followers that to reach heaven before the world ended, they must starve themselves and their children.

Followers who ate food were threatened or beaten by Mackenzie’s accomplices, Reuters reported. Kenyan Justice Diana Kavedza described how children watched siblings die after enduring hunger for days.

Police exhumed bodies of Mackenzie’s followers in 2023, finding many in shallow graves. Investigators concluded the deaths were caused by starvation. Some children showed signs of suffocation, and in some cases, people appeared to have been buried alive.

Mackenzie faces another case alleging 52 people were killed in a nearby village. He has pleaded not guilty.

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