Explainer
What did a Kenyan court decide in the Shakahola Forest case?
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A court in Mombasa has found the preacher Paul Mackenzie guilty of murder. The judge found he ordered followers to stop eating, and in some cases children were denied food while their parents watched, in the forest at Shakahola, near the Indian Ocean.
Mombasa and Shakahola
Of the 191 people he was convicted of murdering, 190 were children, and 1 was an adult.
191
= 1 person
- children190
- adult1
The judge found that where starvation did not kill, children were killed by hand. Investigators exhumed more than 400 bodies from shallow graves, and only 26 could be identified.
>400
Police searched his compound in 2017, and his church was shut down in 2019. The graves surfaced in April 2023. Sentencing comes on 6 November.
- 2017Police search his compound
- 2019Church shut down
- April 2023Graves uncovered in forest
- 6 November 2026Coming upSentencing
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The story
Kenyan court convicts cult leader Paul Mackenzie of 191 murders over Shakahola deathsRead the article
Based on reports by
- BBCBBC World Service - Focus on Africa, Kenyan cult leader guilty of 191 murders
- Neue Zürcher Zeitung400 dead due to fasting sect in Kenya: Pastor Mackenzie convicted
- BBC400 bodies found in forest, pastor guilty of 191 murders; what is the case?
- BBCKenya: Pastor who ordered children to be forcibly starved to be punished, guilty of 191 murders
- BBCShakahola forest deaths: Paul Mackenzie's son says siblings were starved weeks before Kenya trial
- Deutsche WelleKenyan cult leader found guilty of murdering 191 of his followers