Pastor Paul found guilty of the m¥rder of 190 children by ordering them to st@rve themselves so they could go to heaven before the end of the world
Paul Mackenzie has been found guilty of m¥rdering 191 people, all but one children, after allegedly ordering followers to starve them so they could “meet Jesus”.
Twenty-eight other cu¥t leaders were convicted. Justice Diana Mochache said followers believed Mackenzie was “Jesus’s mouthpiece”.
A co-accused said Mackenzie ordered that anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and bl%ws”.
A witness said a pregnant woman was stopped from nursing her newborn, who d+ed 12 days later. “She was instructed to fast to de@th and follow her children,” the witness said.
More than 400 bodies were found in Shakahola Forest after his 2023 arrest.
Stephen Mwiti said: “I’m a happy man, that all persons have been convicted.”
“All six of my children d@ed in Shakahola forest,” he said. “I only found and b¥ried the remains of my son Samuel.”
Gravedigger James told the BBC: “Every grave we found had at least three bodies. Some of the remains were of children as young as a few weeks old.”
“We once found 12 b%dies of children in a line inside a gr@ve. It was massive, the b%dies were arranged like clothes. One on top of another.”
Gravedigger Salim Karisa said: “We would sometimes carry people on our motorbikes into the forest. But it was so planned and secretive that nobody could tell what was happening inside.”
Survivor Peter Shukrani said his mother discarded his medication. “My mother believed Pastor Mackenzie’s doctrine that medicine was ev+l,” he said. “I would have d@ed if I wasn’t rescued from Shakahola forest.”
Shukrani said: “Mackenzie didn’t force anyone to fast. People made those choices by themselves because of their beliefs.” He added, “I still love him and he is still my pastor.”
Mackenzie’s son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, said: “He was the leader, he was someone who they were looking [up to]. So he is a m¥rderer of mass k+lling.”
