(Adnkronos) – A court in Mombasa, Kenya, will issue a highly anticipated verdict on Monday, October 19, in the trial against a self-proclaimed guru and his accomplices, accused of starving 191 people – largely children – in the name of a macabre cult. In 2023, hundreds of bodies were found in the hinterland near Malindi beaches: an event that went down in history as the “Shakahola forest massacre,” one of the worst tragedies linked to sectarian deviations. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie and his accomplices pleaded not guilty to the 191 murders charged in 2024. Mackenzie also faces further charges, including manslaughter and terrorism, for which he has also pleaded not guilty in separate proceedings.
Three years after that macabre discovery, more bodies of children, women, and men have been exhumed in the surrounding areas, bringing the total death toll to over 400 victims. The victims’ family members are expected to be present in court, many of whom will arrive in Mombasa from rural communities located along the coast. Mackenzie is accused of having urged his followers to starve themselves to death to “meet Jesus.”
The affair has deeply shaken Kenyan public opinion; many have called for the introduction of stricter regulations to govern religious cults. During the trial, the court heard over 200 witnesses to the events that occurred between 2021 and 2023 on a 325-hectare ranch in the Shakahola forest. The prosecution argued that Mackenzie “initiated and directed” the practice of extreme fasting, hypothesizing the existence of a “hierarchy of death”: first children, then women, and finally men. According to autopsy reports, the prosecution claims that the children “died of starvation,” “from asphyxiation,” “due to neck compression,” and from “traumatic head injuries.”
