A Kenyan court sentenced cult leader Paul Mackenzie on Friday to 200 years in prison for the murders of 190 children starved to death on his orders and buried in a forest, among 500 suspected victims of one of the deadliest cult-related mass killings of modern times.
The sentence comprised 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years for direct homicide, Justice Diana Kavedza said, reading out the judgment.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie, who led an apocalyptic Christian church in a forest near eastern Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, had told his followers to starve themselves to death, along with their children, to reach heaven before the end of the world.
His accomplices threatened and beat victims to ensure they followed his orders. The emaciated bodies were found scattered in shallow graves and dumped in latrines. Some had been buried alive.
Mackenzie, wearing a grey polo shirt and black trousers, did not react as the judge read out his sentence in a tent set up outside the court where the hearing was held.
He had denied murder charges, saying he did not force the victims to starve. The court rejected his defence.
Twenty-eight accomplices received sentences ranging from 10 to 160 years. All were found guilty at a trial last month.
Defence lawyer Lawrence Obonyo, who represents Mackenzie and almost all of the others convicted, said he would appeal the ruling.
Mackenzie, who broadcast sermons on a YouTube channel that had thousands of subscribers, won the trust of his victims through his charismatic media presence and then targeted defenceless, vulnerable followers, particularly children, Kavedza said.
“Children observed as their siblings dropped dead after enduring hunger for days,” she said. “Those who stole food or water were beaten, their hands tied and locked up in houses, turned into fasting bays to die.”