Cult leader Paul Mackenzie, who killed 190 children, to be sentenced on Friday

Cult leader Paul Mackenzie will be sentenced on Friday in Malindi, Kenya, in a case involving the murder of 190 children and one adult. According to prosecutors, Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death before the end of the world so that they could enter heaven. This incident is considered one of the most horrific cult-related tragedies in recent history.

According to a report by the Straits Times, Paul Mackenzie and 28 co-accused were found guilty of murder last month. All these accused could face the death penalty, although no one has been executed in Kenya for decades. Relatives of the victims in this case are concerned that Mackenzie may continue to spread his lethal messages even inside prison. The families of the victims have demanded that Mackenzie and his co-accused be kept in solitary confinement so that they cannot influence other prisoners.

Stephen Mwiti, 48, who lost six children in this tragedy, stated that his wife went to the Shakahola Forest with the children in 2022. Mwiti's son Samuel, who was approximately 7 years old when entering the forest, was the only child whose remains were identified. Officials recovered more than 400 bodies from the forest, but only 26 people could be identified as most of the bodies had decomposed.

Most of the accused, including Mackenzie and his wife, have denied the charges. Mackenzie claims that he did not force anyone to starve. Opposing this argument, Mwiti questioned what happened to the children if the adults had fasted voluntarily. He added that the post-mortem report revealed that Samuel had been strangled to death, which could not have been voluntary.

Even after Mackenzie's arrest, his followers continued to propagate his ideas. Last year, authorities discovered a dozen more bodies from a nearby village, which appeared to be linked to Mackenzie's cult.

Four years after losing his children, Mwiti remains in shock. He stated that when he returns home from work and sees other children on the way, he is startled. Sometimes, when a child looks like his own children, he feels a deep shock. At Samuel's grave in the Malindi cemetery, under a wooden cross, Mwiti has placed photos of his children and old school uniforms, which are the only memories he has left.