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Doomsday cult leader sentenced to 200 years in prison for murders of 190 children, 1 adult in Kenya
CBS News • • world
Key Points:
- Pastor Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Kenyan Good News International Church doomsday cult, was sentenced to 200 years in prison for ordering the starvation deaths of 191 people, mostly children.
- The High Court in Mombasa found Mackenzie primarily responsible for relocating followers to a remote area and commanding them to fast to death to meet Jesus, describing the killings as "cold and calculated."
- Mackenzie and 28 followers were convicted in October 2023 for the murders, with over 400 bodies exhumed from mass graves at Chakama Ranch, many of whom died from starvation or direct homicide.
- Despite prosecution calls for the death penalty, Mackenzie received a lengthy prison sentence and faces additional charges including terrorism, child abuse, and torture in other courts.
- The case exposed failures by authorities to act sooner, with survivors testifying about Mackenzie's extremist teachings and the cult's belief in starvation as a path to salvation, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic hardships.
