Kenyan doomsday sect leader jailed for 200 years for murder of 190 children

Mackenzie, ex-chofer de táxi, proibiu membros do culto de enviar seus filhos para a escola e de ir ao hospital quando estavam doentes. Fotografia: imagem EPAView em tela cheia.

Photograph: EPAKenyaKenyan doomsday sect leader jailed for 200 years for murder of 190 childrenPaul Mackenzie convicted over deaths of children and one adult after followers were ordered to starve themselves and their families.

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleThe leader of a Kenyan doomsday sect has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 190 children and one adult in one of the world’s worst cult disasters in recent history.

The sentence, comprising 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years by direct homicide, came two weeks after the court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa found the cult leader guilty of the crimes.

Os promotores disseram que Paul Mackenzie e sua igreja Good News International lideravam uma seita cristã do fim dos tempos, cujos membros foram ordenados a se famigar e famigar seus filhos até a morte para ir ao céu antes do fim do mundo.

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.

Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after police received a tipoff, and weeks later authorities began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest near the coast in south-eastern Kenya.

In total, more than 400 bodies have been recovered. Many were severely decomposed and only 26 could be identified.

Mackenzie denied murder charges, saying he did not force the victims to starve, but the court rejected that argument.

A tragédia de Shakahola tem assombrado o Quênia desde a descoberta de sepulturas em massa na floresta há mais de três anos.

It raised questions about how Mackenzie was able to continue operating despite being on the radar of the authorities since 2017, when police searched his premises.

View image in fullscreenKenyan homicide detectives and forensic experts examine exhumed bodies in Shakahola forest. Photograph: EPAIn 2019, authorities shut down Mackenzie’s church and he relocated ‌to the Shakahola forest, police said.

The case has also led to calls for tougher oversight of churches and other religious organisations in a country where religious faith plays a prominent role in public life.

Cult members lived in makeshift homes of polythene sheeting and thatch that Mackenzie divided into areas with biblical names such as Jerusalem and Judea.

A situação de seus seguidores começou a surgir em março de 2023, quando um homem contou à polícia que seu irmão e esposa haviam deixado seus filhos morrerem de fome na floresta sob ordens de Mackenzie.

Mackenzie foi preso, mas liberado sob fiança, após o que parentes disseram que ele antecipou a data em que contou aos seus seguidores que o mundo acabaria. A polícia o re-arrestou e começou a vasculhar a floresta de forma mais sistemática e iniciou a exumação de sepulturas em massa.

Last month’s judgment covered 191 deaths while investigations into more than 200 other deaths are continuing.

Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache said in a hearing lasting more than eight hours that in some cases children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched.

Mackenzie faces other charges over the forest deaths, including those of terrorism, which he has denied.

Prosecutors said that while he was in detention he also directed the deaths of 52 people in Kwa Binzaro village, about 18 miles from Shakahola. Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty in that case.