Doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie has asked the High Court to show mercy ahead of his sentencing on Friday, November 6, 2026, for the murder of 191 people in Shakahola Forest. The prosecution has asked for the death penalty.
Mackenzie and 28 co-accused were convicted of killing 190 children and one adult in the forest in Kilifi County between January 2021 and September 2023. In mitigation before Justice Diana Kavedza, Mackenzie presented himself and his co-accused as victims of the tragedy, in which a total of 429 people died after being led to believe that they would meet Jesus.
“In a way, we lost property and our children. These are things we regret, and we pray that this court will have mercy and take them into account before passing a harsh sentence on us,” he said through his lawyer.
The defence asked the court to take into account the convicts’ personal circumstances and their conduct while in custody, and to hand down sentences that allow room for rehabilitation. The lawyers proposed prison terms of no more than 10 years, with the time already spent in custody deducted.
They described the 191 deaths as a tragedy of immeasurable proportions, but said their plea was not meant to downplay the pain of the bereaved families or suggest that the loss could be undone. They urged the court to judge remorse by the convicts’ behaviour, their acceptance of wrongdoing, their willingness to reform and their commitment to living within the law.
The convicts said that since their arrest in 2023, they had taken part in religious programmes and other training, including a deradicalisation programme, which they offered as proof that they were ready to change and rejoin society. They also said their religious beliefs had changed, and they cited the effect their imprisonment was having on their families.
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The prosecution, however, called for sentences that match the seriousness of the crimes, combined with structured rehabilitation and disengagement programmes.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina told the court that all the convicts except Enos Amanya Ngala had maintained their innocence.
“Essentially, the convicts expressed no remorse or regret. It is also absurd that they persist with adhering to the teachings that caused the deaths,” Yamina said.
He argued that the death penalty was the appropriate sentence for Mackenzie, given the nature and scale of the offences. If the court declines to impose the death penalty, he said, Mackenzie should be jailed for life. The prosecution is seeking life sentences for the other convicts.
The Shakahola massacre came to light in April 2023, when police raided the forest after reports that followers of Mackenzie’s Good News International Church were starving themselves to death on his instructions. The exhumations that followed uncovered hundreds of bodies in shallow graves, making it one of the deadliest cult-related tragedies in the world.
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