Judgement day for Kenya pastor accused of ordering parents to starve their children to death

Judgement day for Kenya pastor accused of ordering parents to starve their children to death

Paul Mackenzie ran his church for 16 years, drawing thousands of followers

A Kenyan court is due to hand down a judgement in a mass murder case involving doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie.

Mackenzie and 29 of his followers are charged with the murder of 191 children.

The cult is accused of making children starve to death so they could "meet Jesus". Its doomsday teachings said education was banned and modern medicine was regarded as "evil".

Mackenzie and the 29 others have all denied murder, repeatedly saying that no one was forced to die.

Mackenzie’s former head of security, Enos Amanya Ngala, was originally accused but later struck a plea deal and became a prosecution witness.

Mackenzie and other cult leaders are also facing a range of other cases, including terrorism, radicalisation and denying children an education.

But this is the first time the pastor will face a ruling on the most serious murder charges.

Authorities said more than 400 bodies were discovered in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near the Kenyan coast, where Mackenzie led followers from across the country.

Seventeen men were hired from the nearby town to carry out the horrific task of digging up the shallow graves. Some were paid only $8 (£6) a day.

"Every grave we found had at least three bodies," James, one of the gravediggers, told the BBC. "Some of the remains were of children as young as a few weeks old."

"We once found 12 bodies of children in a line inside a grave. It was massive, the bodies were arranged like clothes. One on top of another."

Gravediggers said some of the children’s bodies had their "hands and legs tied and bodies wrapped in bedsheets".

Salim Karisa was paid about $8 a day to dig up dozens of bodies

Although many of Mackenzie’s followers came from other parts of Kenya, some of the remains are of people known to the local community because cult members would often go to nearby Shakahola town for supplies and to collect water from the River Galana, which runs through the town.

"We would sometimes carry people on our motorbikes into the forest," said Salim Karisa, another gravedigger. "But it was so planned and secretive that nobody could tell what was happening inside."

Stephen Mwiti, 48, described losing all six of his children to the cult and seeing "many bald women and tens of children" around Mackenzie in his house when he went to confront him. Mackenzie banned make-up and hairstyles, telling women to shave their heads or leave their hair unkempt.

Mwiti’s former wife is among those accused alongside Mackenzie.

"If I met Pastor Mackenzie today, one of us will have to die," told the BBC.

Stephen Mwiti says his six children died in the forest

"All six of my children died in Shakahola forest," Mwiti said, visibly emotional as he held a photograph of his family. "I only found and buried the remains of my son Samuel."

"This little thing here was the start of all my misery," Mwiti said, pointing to a dusty TV and cable box in his home in the coastal town of Malindi, 70km (43 miles) from Shakahola. It was through that TV that Mackenzie’s doctrine reached his home.

The pastor founded Good News International Ministries in 2003. Over the next 16 years, the church grew in popularity and attracted thousands of followers across its branches in Kenya.

His church operated a television station called Times TV, which broadcast his sermons from his church in Malindi.

His End Days sermons included conspiracy theories portraying education as "evil", healthcare as "against the doctrine" and digital identity cards as "the mark of the devil".

This is the building from where Mackenzie broadcast his sermons

Mackenzie’s son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, said he worked as a cameraman in the church. "The children would sit at the back, adults in the middle, and everyone would sing worship songs all morning."

The pastor would begin his fiery sermons at noon, some of which involved "casting out demons".

The main church closed in 2019 and Paul Mackenzie moved to Shakahola forest, urging his followers to join him.

Peter Shukrani, 23, says his mother moved to Shakahola with him at the time. He began attending Mackenzie’s church when he was eight and described him as his "spiritual father", adding that he would "never say a bad word about him".

While in the forest, Shukrani became ill and his condition worsened because medicine was forbidden.

"My mother would throw away all the medicine I was supposed to take because she believe that only God could heal me," Shukrani said.

The settlement was described as mud houses scattered across the huge forest. "We lived a quiet normal life, fasting for a few days then having a small meal," Shukrani said.

By March 2023, when the first remains were found by local herders, hundreds of people had died. "We would carry someone out of the forest but they were so frail that they would die in our arms," explained Salim Karisa, one of the gravediggers.

Shukrani was among the men rescued from the forest in March 2023.

He had been ill and bedridden for weeks by then, but his condition worsened because his mother would throw away all the medication he needed to recover.

"My mother believed Pastor Mackenzie’s doctrine that medicine was evil," Shukrani said.

"I would have died if I wasn't rescued from Shakahola forest."

Peter Shukrani says he would have died if he had stayed in the forest but still believes Mackenzie is a good man

In the 298 pages outlining the charges against him in the current case, all 191 victims Mackenzie and his followers are accused of murdering are children.

Many of the bodies remain unidentified because of their advanced state of decomposition.

In the court papers, several are described as "unknown male child" and identified by the location of their grave and the date they were found.

Despite the suffering endured by Mackenzie’s followers, men, women and children who died from starvation, strangulation and even being bludgeoned to death, as well as his own suffering, Shukrani believes Mackenzie was "a good person who cares for me".

"Mackenzie didn't force anyone to fast. People made those choices by themselves because of their beliefs," Shukrani said.

"I still love him and he is still my pastor."

By contrast, Dan Mackenzie believes his father should be found guilty of murder.

"He was the leader, he was someone who they were looking [up to]. So he is a murderer of mass killing."