A Kenyan court has found Paul Mackenzie and about 30 co-accused guilty over the Shakahola starvation deaths of 190 children and one adult.
Kenya has reached a grim legal milestone. A court has convicted cult leader Paul Mackenzie and about 30 others of murder over the deaths of 190 children and one adult, in one of the deadliest cult-related tragedies in recent history.
Prosecutors argued that Mackenzie and his church built a sect that ordered followers to starve themselves and their children. The verdict follows one of the most harrowing criminal investigations the country has seen.
The case began in 2023, when police received a tipoff and Mackenzie was arrested. Weeks later, investigators began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest, near the coast in south-eastern Kenya. The discoveries shocked the nation and drew global attention.
The convictions close a major chapter in the case, but the scale of the loss will stay with Kenya for a long time. Most of the victims were children, and the ruling puts the spotlight on the families and communities left behind.
