The eldest son of convicted cult leader Paul Mackenzie says his younger siblings were denied food for almost three days before police rescued them from their grandmother’s home in Kenya.
Starvation cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 28 others were found guilty of murder by a Kenyan court on Monday over the deaths of 190 children and an adult in one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies in recent history.
The preacher was arrested in 2023 after police received a tip-off, and weeks later authorities began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola Forest near the coast in southeastern Kenya.
Earlier, the eldest son of Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie says some of his younger siblings were still being forced to fast just weeks before his father was convicted in one of the country’s most disturbing mass-death cases.
Dan Mackenzie, 27, told the BBC that he reported the alleged abuse to police after learning that children in his family were being denied food. Officers subsequently rescued eight children, including five of his younger siblings, from their grandmother’s house and took them to a rescue centre.
“They were basically forcibly fasted because they were denying food to them for almost three days,” Dan told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
His account has renewed concerns about the welfare of children who may remain exposed to the teachings of the religious group associated with his father.
Paul Mackenzie Convicted in Shakahola Forest Deaths
Paul Mackenzie was found guilty on Monday of murdering 191 people — 190 children and one adult — who died after being starved in Shakahola forest, near Kenya’s coast.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie directed followers of his doomsday religious group to starve themselves and their children to death so they could “meet Jesus”. Twenty-eight other people accused alongside him were also convicted of murder.
In her judgment, delivered in the coastal city of Mombasa, Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie’s followers believed he was a mouthpiece for Jesus.
The court also heard that people who resisted fasting were allegedly subjected to force. One co-accused said Mackenzie had instructed that those who refused should be made to go to heaven “through kicks and blows”.
The bodies of more than 400 people have been exhumed from shallow graves in Shakahola forest since the case came to light in 2023.
Son Recalls Childhood Abuse and Denied Education
Dan said he initially struggled to accept the allegations against his father but began to understand the scale of the tragedy during the court proceedings.
He recalled being forced to fast for almost a week when he was 12. He also said church members beat him for hours to make him attend religious services.
The group’s teachings reportedly prohibited formal education and described modern medicine as evil.
“I left school when I was seven,” Dan said.
He now lives in the coastal town of Malindi, where he works as a motorcycle taxi driver and supports himself and his younger siblings.
‘I Had to Report My Grandmother’
Dan said reporting relatives who continued to believe in his father’s teachings was a difficult decision, but he felt it was necessary to protect the children.
He said some people in Malindi had treated him with hostility because of his father’s crimes, while others had accepted him after he distanced himself from the group.
Dan expressed hope that the court’s verdict would provide some comfort to families who lost loved ones.
Families Welcome Murder Convictions
The verdict has brought a measure of relief to some relatives of the victims.
Stephen Mwiti, 48, who said he lost all six of his children to the cult, welcomed the convictions outside the court.
His former wife was among those convicted alongside Mackenzie.
The court heard that deaths within the group were treated as religious celebrations, with burials described as “weddings” and those who died said to have “wedded with Jesus”.
Further Cases Still Ahead
The murder convictions are the first ruling on the most serious charges against Mackenzie, who was arrested in 2023 after the discovery of mass graves in Shakahola forest.
He and other members of the group also face separate cases relating to terrorism, radicalisation and denying children an education.
Dan’s account highlights the continuing challenge of protecting children who may still be exposed to the group’s beliefs, even as the criminal cases move forward.
The rescue of the eight children followed his report to police. Their current welfare arrangements and the full circumstances of the alleged forced fasting were not detailed in the report.
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