In brief
In Nairobi a 27‑year‑old son of Paul Mackenzie, the man convicted of murdering 191 people in a Kenyan starvation cult, claims his younger siblings were being forced to fast even weeks before the court case. Dan Mackenzie recounts police rescuing eight children, including his five younger brothers, from a grandmother’s house where they had been denied food for almost three days. The judge in Mombasa ruled the cult leaders’ doctrine forbade education and modern medicine, teaching that starving would bring followers closer to Jesus. The family's case, which began with the discovery of more than 400 bodies in Shakahola forest, has now received its first verdict. The son now drives a motorcycle taxi in Malindi and hopes the judgment brings some comfort to the victims’ families.
In the coastal town of Malindi a 27‑year‑old man stood at the centre of a brutal scandal that rattled Kenya’s faith communities.
Dan Mackenzie, the eldest son of Paul Mackenzie, the cult leader convicted of killing 191 people by forcing them to starve, told reporters that his younger siblings were being fed no food for nearly three days, a fact he only learned weeks before his father's trial began.
The police rescued eight children, among them Dan’s five younger brothers, from their grandmother’s house near Shakahola forest. The children had been fasted in a system that the court later described as a form of “religious punishment.”
Judge Diana Mochache in Mombasa ruled that the cult’s doctrine forbade modern medicine and schooling, and that followers were led to believe that starving would bring them closer to Jesus.
Dan, who left school at seven and has since become a motorcycle taxi driver, said he felt compelled to report his grandmother after learning the scale of the crimes. “I want to free my siblings,” he said.
The verdict against Paul Mackenzie, handed down on Monday, is the first ruling in a series of cases that also involve terrorism, radicalisation and the denial of children’s education.
While the decision has brought some relief to families such as Stephen Mwiti, who lost all six of his children, it also highlights the grim reality that children in the cult were still being starved weeks before the trial.
