Doomsday cult leader given life sentence for murdering 190 children as followers ordered to starve themselves

Doomsday cult leader given life sentence for murdering 190 children as followers ordered to starve themselves Pastor Paul Mackenzie has been jailed for murdering 190 children and one adult after ordering his followers to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 191 people, 190 of them children. Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult after ordering his followers to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus. The High Court in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa issued the sentence for Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, on Friday. Justice Diana Kavedza said that Mackenzie bore the "primary criminal culpability" for relocating his followers to a remote location and ordering them to fast to death. He was charged with the murders alongside 28 of his followers, including guards who enforced his fasting directives and gravediggers who helped conceal the mass graves. All denied the charges, except for one person who confessed and pleaded for leniency. Last month, the High Court found all 29 of the accused guilty of the murder of 191 people. The charges came after more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves on the 800-acre (320-hectare) Chakama Ranch in coastal Kilifi County in 2023. The area housed Mackenzie's followers, who lived in mud huts away from the scrutiny of local communities and authorities. More than 60 bodies were positively identified and reburied by their relatives, while many others remain unidentified and unclaimed. Judge Kavedza said 183 victims died of starvation, defined as a complete lack of food, while the other eight were classified as murder by direct homicide. The judge described the murders as "cold and calculated" and dismissed claims by some of the accused that losing their own children altered the fact that they had participated in the killings of many other children. The justice said that the perpetrators didn't show remorse and declared they were ready to fast to death as well. During the sentencing, Mackenzie often smiled and chatted with his assistant pastor, Smart Mwakalama, who was sentenced to 160 years in prison. The prosecution had argued for the death penalty for Mackenzie and life imprisonment for his accomplices. Mackenzie is also facing terrorism, child abuse and torture charges in two other courts.