Kenyan preacher who urged followers to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’ sentenced to 200 years in prison  

A Kenyan court has sentenced doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison after convicting him of murdering 191 people, all but one of them children, according to the BBC.

According to the broadcaster, Mackenzie and 27 others were found guilty of operating an organised system in which cult members were instructed to starve their children to death so they could “meet Jesus”.

The Mombasa High Court announced the sentence today.

Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 following the discovery of more than four hundred bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest, near Kenya’s coastal region.

Prosecutors cited what they described as Mackenzie’s lack of remorse for the crimes and requested life sentences for his co-accused.

Before the sentencing, Francis Wanje, who lost eight relatives, including two grandchildren, in the Shakahola tragedy, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that he was “hoping for… a sentence which will match his [Mackenzie’s] deeds in the forest”.

Mackenzie and his co-accused had pleaded for mercy and asked the court for leniency.

Before their conviction on 19 October, they had all denied the charges and repeatedly insisted that nobody was forced to die.