Doomsday preacher and cult leader Paul Mackenzie has been sentenced to 200 years in prison over the Shakahola massacre, in which 191 people, including 190 children, died after extreme religious fasting.

Lady Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache handed down the sentence at the High Court in Mombasa on Friday, November 6, 2026, following Mackenzie's conviction on 191 counts of murder.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge said the punishment was intended to achieve retribution, denunciation, and deterrence, considering the scale of the crimes and the suffering inflicted on victims and their families.

"The objectives of sentencing, particularly retribution, denunciation, and deterrence, require that punishment be experienced as a tangible loss by the offender," the judge stated.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie stands during their court appearance with his co-accused at the Mombasa Law Courts in Mombasa on October 19, 2026. A self-proclaimed Kenyan preacher and his associates were on October 19 found guilty of murdering 191 people, mostly children, in an infamous starvation cult. Hundreds of bodies have been discovered since 2023 at the cult base inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi, in what became known as the "Shakahola Forest Massacre". (Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP)[/caption]

 

The sentences followed a murder judgment delivered on October 19, 2026, in which the judge found Mackenzie and 28 co-accused guilty of all 191 counts after the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

In her earlier judgment, Justice Kavedza established that Mackenzie, who led Good News International Ministries, directed his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus, with children targeted first before the practice spread to young people, women and men.

The court found that the fasting was not voluntary but was enforced through an organised system of religious indoctrination, intimidation and violence.