Shakahola Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie Sentenced to 200 Years Over 191 Murders

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murder of 190 children and one adult in the Shakahola starvation cult tragedy.

The High Court in Mombasa, presided over by Hon Lady Justice Diana Kavedza, handed down the sentence on Friday, November 6, 2026. It spared him the death penalty that prosecutors had pushed for.

Mackenzie was convicted on October 19 alongside 28 co-accused on 191 counts of murder. The deaths were linked to enforced fasting in Shakahola Forest, Kilifi County.

Mackenzie was handed sentences for each of the 183 counts of murder by starvation. One involved an adult victim, and 182 involved children. Those terms run concurrently.

He was also given 100 years for each of the eight counts of murder by direct homicide involving child victims. Those too run concurrently.

The two sets of sentences will run consecutively, bringing his aggregate term to 200 years.

Two of his co-accused, each received an aggregate of 160 years.

Each was handed 80 years for the 183 starvation counts and 80 years for the eight direct homicide counts. The terms run concurrently within each category and consecutively between the two.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had urged the court to sentence Mackenzie to death. It also sought life imprisonment for 27 of his co-accused, citing the gravity of their roles and the need to protect the public.

The convicts played roles ranging from village elders and enforcers to cooks and grave diggers, the State argued.

Mackenzie and his co-accused pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2024. One of them, Enos Amanya Ngala, later pleaded guilty to all 191 counts.

In her judgment, Justice Diana Kavedza rejected the defence claim that the victims, all below 16 years, fasted voluntarily to death.

Further excavations in the forest have pushed the overall death toll past 400.