Kenyan Cult Leader and Associates Charged with Murder of 191 Children

Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 29 associates have been charged with the murder of 191 children buried in a forest. The accused denied the charges, with one defendant deemed mentally unfit for trial.

Prosecutors claim Mackenzie instructed followers to starve themselves and their children to attain heaven before the world’s end. Mackenzie’s Good News International Church, which resided in secluded settlements within Shakahola forest, was responsible for over 400 bodies.

He was arrested in April last year and charged with terrorism-related crimes, manslaughter, and torture. Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, forbade cult members from sending their children to school and from visiting the hospital when they were ill, branding such institutions as Satanic.