The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Monday secured the conviction of controversial preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 28 co-accused for the murder of 191 people, including 190 children, in the Shakahola massacre.
Delivering the judgment at the Mombasa High Court, Lady Justice Diana Kavedza found the accused persons guilty of the 191 murder counts arising from deaths that occurred between January 2021 and September 2023 at Shakahola, Malindi Sub-County, Kilifi County.
The court found that the deaths resulted from an organised system in which religious teachings and an established hierarchy were used to direct and enforce deadly fasting among Mackenzie’s followers.
“The evidence before me establishes precisely such a development. Mackenzie’s followers were first whipped through an established religious and communications network. They were subsequently directed to relocate. Once at the settlement, they were directed to fast,” Justice Kavedza ruled.
The court found that the directive to fast to death was communicated through village elders, reinforced during regular meetings and enforced through a structured system. Fasting was implemented sequentially, beginning with children, while guards controlled movement and prevented followers from escaping.
Justice Kavedza further found that Good News International Church, established by Mackenzie in 2010, operated as a cult. The court heard evidence that Mackenzie preached the imminent end of the world, discouraged modern medicine and formal education, isolated followers from outsiders and encouraged fasting as a means of entering heaven.
The prosecution also presented evidence that children were restrained, denied food and punished for attempting to eat or escape. Witnesses described witnessing the suffering and deaths of siblings and other minors.
The DPP presented evidence from 123 witnesses, including child victims and adult accomplice witnesses, supported by digital recordings, social media content, medical and forensic reports, DNA analysis, physical exhibits, deceased persons’ journals and expert testimony.
Crime-scene evidence showed that bodies were exhumed from graves across several homesteads and from mass graves, including one containing 12 bodies and another site with several graves holding 63 bodies.
Prosecution witness Dr Njoroge produced 190 postmortem samples relating to deceased minors. Medical evidence attributed 76 deaths to starvation, 112 to unascertained causes, one to traumatic head injury, one to manual neck compression and one to asphyxia with features of starvation.
The court also considered evidence that burial rites were conducted at unusual hours to avoid detection and that the settlement was divided into 12 villages to facilitate administration and enforcement of the fasting directives.
The convicted persons include Mackenzie, his deputy pastor Smart Deri Mwakalama, Stephen Sanga Muye and 26 others.
Two other accused persons, Kelvin Saudi Asena and Edison Safari Mnyambo, died during the trial, after which the DPP withdrew the murder charges against them.
The prosecution team was led by the DPP and comprised Peter Kiprop, Head of the Coast Region; Jami Yamina; Victor Owiti; Ngina Mutua; Betty Rubia; and Yassir Mohammed.
The convictions mark a significant milestone in the prosecution of one of Kenya’s most consequential criminal cases, demonstrating the importance of comprehensive testimonial, forensic and medical evidence in establishing criminal responsibility.
