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The High Court in Mombasa declared that self-styled pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 29 co-accused were properly charged with the murder of 191 children whose bodies were exhumed from mass graves in Shakahola forest, according to the Kenya News Agency. Lady Justice Mugure Thande struck out a defense application seeking to quash the charge sheet on grounds it was defective for lacking specific victim names, dates and locations in each count. The judge directed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to consolidate the counts from 191 into 12 to enable faster delivery of justice to both the victims’ families and the accused persons.
Prosecutors told the court that evidence established Mackenzie had issued instructions for his followers to fast until death in the expectation they would meet Jesus Christ, a Daily Nation report indicated. The religiously motivated practice was coordinated with the accused playing different roles that led to the deaths of 190 children and one adult between 2021 and 2023 in Kilifi County. Forensic examinations showed starvation accounted for 99 percent of the fatalities while two resulted from direct human action, the Director of Public Prosecutions assessment found.
A Senate ad hoc committee recorded 428 bodies exhumed by October 2023 with the total later rising above 450, according to AP News. The wider investigation resulted in 95 individuals being charged with offenses that included homicide, organised crime, radicalisation and crimes against children. One co-accused pleaded guilty to the 191 murder counts in January 2026 and was convicted on his own plea, The Star reported.
Mackenzie acquired 480 acres of land in the forest that he subdivided into villages bearing biblical names and operated under a strict hierarchy with guards, gravediggers and cooks, investigators told the court. Former followers described how initial voluntary fasting later became enforced through denial of food and water with children and women often required to die first. The Good News International Church which had branches across Kenya was gazetted as a criminal organisation in January 2024, the Kenya News Agency stated.
In a separate case Mackenzie faces charges over the deaths of 52 additional people whose bodies and body parts were recovered from shallow graves in the nearby Binzaro area, the BBC reported. Prosecutors alleged he continued directing followers from his prison cell by writing notes that encouraged further fasting. The cult leader has denied all allegations including those of murder, manslaughter, terrorism and radicalisation across the multiple proceedings.
Survivors and medical personnel who testified provided accounts of mental torture and coercion that contradicted defense claims the deaths were voluntary, according to prosecution submissions. Twenty-eight rescued minors recounted being ordered to fast to death while forensic pathologists linked most fatalities to starvation and related complications. Roughly 121 witnesses appeared in court and approximately 400 statements were recorded during the investigations that spanned several years.
Only 34 bodies have so far been positively identified through DNA testing and released to families for burial leaving many relatives without closure, a report in Modern Ghana noted. Mackenzie who previously worked as a taxi driver before becoming a televangelist also faces other trials on child cruelty and terrorism charges that remain pending. The full judgment on guilt or innocence in the main murder case is expected after further submissions are heard.
