person

Paul Mackenzie

Kenyan religious leader on trial over deaths in Shakahola forest

World · 19 Oct 2026Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie faces verdict over deaths of 191 children

A Kenyan court is set to deliver a judgment in the mass murder case against doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie and 29 followers, who are accused of murdering 191 children by starvation in the Shakahola forest. Mackenzie's cult allegedly forced children to starve to death as part of a doomsday doctrine that deemed education and modern medicine as evil. All defendants have pleaded not guilty, insisting that nobody was forced to die.