MOMBASA, 6 Nov. 2026 — After more than three years of a harrowing trial, self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 191 people, 190 of them children, in the Shakahola starvation cult tragedy.
Lady Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache delivered the sentence at the Mombasa High Court on Friday, following Mackenzie’s conviction on all 191 counts of murder on 19 October 2026.
The judge handed Mackenzie 100 years’ imprisonment for each of the 183 counts of murder by starvation, involving 182 children and one adult. These sentences will run concurrently.
He was handed a further 100 years’ imprisonment for each of the eight counts of murder by direct homicide involving child victims. These sentences will also run concurrently.
The two sets of sentences will run consecutively, bringing his aggregate prison term to 200 years.
Mackenzie did not fall alone, as his 28 co-accused were also handed lengthy terms.
Fifteen were jailed for 160 years each, 10 others for 140 years each, and one for 100 years. Two others, Enos Amanya Ngala and Lucas Owino, were each jailed for 10 years.
Amanya received the reduced sentence after entering a plea-bargaining agreement with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), under which he admitted guilt to all 191 counts.
Why not the death penalty?
Prosecutors had pushed for the death penalty, but Justice Kavedza declined to impose it.
She said that imposing death would fail to achieve deterrence because it could strengthen the convicts’ belief that dying would reunite them with Jesus, rather than punish them.
She also ruled that no parent has the legal right to determine that a child should die in pursuit of religious beliefs, rejecting the defence claim that the victims, all below 16 years old, fasted voluntarily.
Medical evidence showed that starvation was established as the cause of death in 72 cases, while other victims died from asphyxia, manual neck compression and traumatic head injuries.
The judge further directed that all the other convicts, excluding Mackenzie, be assessed for participation in a disengagement, deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration programme recommended by the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
Background: How Shakahola happened
Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International Church, preached that the world would end in August 2023 and that followers needed to fast to reach heaven and meet Jesus.
He persuaded followers to abandon their homes and move to Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County, promising that fasting there would bring them closer to God. Children were ordered to fast first, followed by young people, women and then men.
Mackenzie had been under surveillance since 2017. In 2019, authorities shut down his church in Malindi, and he relocated to nearby Shakahola Forest.
The case shocked Kenya in April 2023, when police began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola Forest near Malindi, following a tip-off. Although only 191 victims were covered by this trial, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says 448 bodies were ultimately found in the forest.
Mackenzie is also accused of ordering the deaths of 52 people found at a separate location in a village 30 km away, bringing the suspected total toll to 500.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) welcomed the sentencing as a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice for the victims and their families, underscoring the importance of thorough investigations, forensic expertise and evidence-led prosecutions.
However, defence lawyer Lawrence Obonyo, who represents Mackenzie and almost all the others convicted, said he would appeal against the ruling.
