In short:
The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has been found guilty of using forced starvation to kill 191 of his followers, including children and one adult.
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leader → find → children
Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others who helped run a sect connected to his evangelical Good News International Church.
What's next?
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What → convict → Church
Mackenzie and his co-accused are due to be sentenced on November 6.
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Mackenzie → sentence → November
A Kenyan preacher has been found guilty of 191 murder charges after forcing followers to starve themselves and their children so they would die and enter heaven to be with Jesus.
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they → find → Jesus
Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others who helped run a sect connected to his Good News International Church in coastal south-east Kenya.
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who → convict → Kenya
Mackenzie and his helpers used religious teachings and a church hierarchy to enforce "deadly fasting" on followers after setting up a community in a forest, a judge said in her ruling on Monday, local time.
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judge → use → Monday
The murder charges involved the deaths of 190 children and one adult.
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charges → involve → children
Mackenzie and others face life in prison at their sentencing, scheduled for November 6.
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Mackenzie → face → November
While Kenya has the death penalty, the country has not executed anyone since 1987.
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country → have → 1987
Capital punishment has been left to the judge's discretion since 2017, when the country's Supreme Court ruled mandatory death penalties for murder were unconstitutional.
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penalties → leave → murder
Mackenzie and others also face separate manslaughter, terrorism and child torture charges over the deaths of more than 230 others.
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Mackenzie → face → others
He has denied all charges, saying he did not force his followers to starve themselves.
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he → deny → themselves
His co-defendants have also pleaded not guilty.
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defendants → plead → ?
The sect was discovered in a forest in 2023
The sect was uncovered in April 2023 after Mackenzie closed his church premises in the coastal resort town of Malindi and moved with hundreds of followers inland to the nearby Shakahola Forest.
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Mackenzie → discover → Forest
Police investigating reports of missing people found followers suffering from extreme hunger, and shallow graves spread across a large ranch in the forest.
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graves → investigate → forest
More than 400 bodies were dug up over three weeks, many from mass graves.
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bodies → dig → graves
Most had starved to death in what became known as the Shakahola massacre.
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what → starve → massacre
Some also died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries, according to post-mortem reports.
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Some → die → reports
For others, the cause of death could not be determined due to decomposition of the bodies.
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cause → determine → bodies
A small number of victims died soon after being rescued because they were so emaciated.
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they → die → victims
Former taxi driver turned preacher
Mackenzie is a former street vendor and taxi driver who set up his evangelical Good News International Church in Malindi in 2003.
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who → turn → 2003
His preaching included opposition to formal schooling, some medicines and vaccinations.
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preaching → include → schooling
He was detained in 2019 for opposing government efforts to assign national identification numbers to Kenyans, calling the numbers satanic.
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He → detain → numbers
That year, he closed his church premises and took his followers to the forest ranch, where they built houses and lived in villages with biblical names like Nazareth, according to survivors.
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they → close → survivors
The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged his apocalyptic teachings, and he and the cult hierarchy began to enforce strict fasting that even forbade parents from feeding their children.
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that → encourage → children
Those who opposed his teachings or tried to leave were beaten, survivors said.
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survivors → oppose → teachings
Enforced fasting lasted more than two years
In delivering her guilty verdict, high court judge Diana Kavedza said evidence showed the cult had encouraged and enforced fasting as a way to enter heaven, starting with children.
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cult → enforce → children
She said it began in January 2021 and lasted more than two years before authorities discovered what was happening.
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what → say → January
Mackenzie and his co-accused were formally charged in February 2024.
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Mackenzie → accuse → February
Prosecutors presented evidence from 123 witnesses, including children who were caught up in the sect.
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who → present → sect
Two other defendants facing murder charges died during the prosecution.
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defendants → face → prosecution
The Aporia
