A Kenyan court has sentenced doomsday cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for his role in the mass murder of 190 children and one adult, bringing a grim measure of legal closure to one of the continent’s most tragic religious cult scandals.
The ruling handed down by High Court Judge Diana Kavedza imposed consecutive 100-year terms for murder by starvation and direct homicide, describing the acts as systematically planned and executed within the remote Shakahola Forest in southeastern Kenya.
According to Reuters, state prosecutors proved that Mackenzie manipulated members of his Good News International Church into extreme fasting, falsely promising that starvation would allow them to meet Jesus Christ before the end of the world.
According to court findings cited by Reuters, followers who attempted to break their fasts or escape were violently prevented from leaving by armed guards, while children were systematically starved to death. Hundreds of emaciated bodies were excavated from shallow mass graves in the forest following the discovery of the site by authorities.
According to legal experts, while Mackenzie and several senior accomplices have received heavy prison sentences, they continue to face separate ongoing charges in Kenyan courts including terrorism, torture, and child abuse.
–Reuters/ChannelAfrica–
