A Kenyan court has sentenced self-proclaimed pastor and leader of the Good News International Church, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, to 200 years in prison for the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, in the Shakahola Forest tragedy.
In a post shared via X on Friday, November 6, 2026, Kenyan broadcaster NTV Kenya reported the sentencing, which was delivered by the High Court in Mombasa.
The court found Mackenzie guilty of directing his followers to starve themselves and their children to death in an attempt to reach heaven and meet Jesus.
The 200-year sentence comprises two consecutive 100-year terms for murder by starvation and direct homicide, respectively.
Justice Diana Kavedza said Mackenzie bore the “primary criminal culpability” for relocating his followers to a remote location and directing them to fast to death.
The court heard that followers who attempted to abandon the fasting exercise or eat and drink were beaten, restrained and confined by the preacher’s accomplices.
In her remarks, the judge highlighted the suffering of the children, saying, “Children observed as their siblings dropped dead after enduring hunger for days.”
Twenty-eight other defendants were also convicted in connection with the deaths and received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 160 years.
Mackenzie had denied forcing his followers to starve, but the court rejected his defence. His lawyer said the defence would appeal the ruling.
The Shakahola tragedy came to public attention in April 2023 after police began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in the forest in Kilifi County, near the coastal town of Malindi.
Authorities eventually recovered more than 400 bodies from the area, while Mackenzie is also facing a separate case involving the deaths of 52 people at another location.
