In brief
Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie, jailed for killing 191 people, faces trial while his eldest son Dan asserts that his younger siblings were still being forced to fast several weeks before the court date. Dan reports that police rescued eight children, including his five siblings, from their grandmother’s home and placed them in a rescue centre after he reported the abuse. The court found Mackenzie guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult in Shakahola forest, where the cult taught that starvation would bring followers closer to Jesus. Dan, who once defended his father, now works as a motorcycle taxi driver in Malindi and hopes the conviction will bring relief to victims’ families. Former cult member Stephen Mwiti welcomed the verdict, noting the broader convictions and future sentencing on November 6.
Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie faces conviction for 191 murders, yet his eldest son Dan insists his younger siblings were still being forced to starve weeks before the trial.
Dan, 27, testified that after he reported the abuse police rescued eight children, including his five younger siblings, from their grandmother’s home and placed them in a rescue centre.
He described how the children had been denied food for almost three days, effectively being forced to fast.
Mackenzie was found guilty on Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult in Shakahola forest near Kenya’s coast. The court said he taught followers that starving themselves and their children would bring them closer to meeting Jesus.
Twenty-eight other cult leaders were also convicted of murder in the same case.
Dan, who initially defended his father, later realised the scale of the tragedy during court proceedings. When he was 12 he had to fast for almost a week, and he recalled being beaten for hours to attend a church service as a child.
He says he decided to report his grandmother to free his siblings, as the cult’s doctrine forbade education and called modern medicine evil.
Now living in Malindi, Dan supports himself and his younger siblings as a motorcycle taxi driver. Some locals resent him because of his father’s crimes, but many accept him for distancing himself from the cult.
"I hope the verdict brings comfort to those who lost family members," he told the BBC’s Newsday.
Stephen Mwiti, 48, who lost all six of his children to the cult, welcomed the verdict. He says justice has been achieved after the conviction. His former wife was among those convicted.
Justice Diana Mochache delivered an eight‑hour judgment, noting followers believed Mackenzie was Jesus’s mouthpiece. The court also heard that those who refused to fast were physically coerced.
Burial rituals in the forest were described as weddings, celebrating those who died as having married Jesus. Mackenzie faces separate charges of terrorism, radicalisation and denying children education.
He is due to be sentenced on 6 November.
