Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie gets life for 191 deaths
What's new: Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, but the court instead handed Mackenzie life in prison after finding most victims were children.
A Kenyan court sentenced doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie to life in prison for murdering 191 people, all but one of them children, in the Shakahola forest starvation case. Mackenzie and 27 others were convicted of ordering followers to starve their children so they could “meet Jesus.” More than 400 bodies were recovered from shallow graves near Malindi after his 2023 arrest. The court heard that some victims died of starvation, while others died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries. Prosecutors had argued for the death penalty because of the scale of the killings and said Mackenzie showed no remorse.