190 enfants morts de faim pour « rencontrer Jésus » : Le Kenya s'apprête à condamner Paul Mackenzie à la peine de mort
The leader of an apocalyptic evangelical sect, found guilty of murdering 190 children after encouraging his followers to starve to death to "meet Jesus," is due to be sentenced on Friday in Kenya, where he faces the death penalty.
Hundreds of bodies were discovered in 2023 in the hinterland near the beaches of Malindi, in the south. The media quickly dubbed it the "Shakahola Forest Massacre"—one of the worst tragedies linked to cult-like practices to traumatize the East African country.
Last month, a court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa found self-proclaimed pastor and former taxi driver Paul Mackenzie, along with 28 accomplices, guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult between January 2021 and September 2023.
Mr. Mackenzie, wearing a grey polo shirt, appeared indifferent, with a slight smile, as he arrived at the courthouse for sentencing, along with the other convicts. The defense attorney had indicated that his clients would appeal.
On the scene, Francis Wanje hopes that Mr. Mackenzie will be sentenced to death, in order to prevent further tragedies. But "nothing can ease the pain," says the 62-year-old retired teacher who lost two grandchildren in the tragedy.
If the Kenyan authorities had reacted more quickly, "we wouldn't be here," sighed the man who had narrowly managed to save one of his grandsons in March 2023.
The prosecution requested the death penalty for the guru earlier this week, a provision enshrined in Kenyan law. However, the last execution in the country dates back to 1987.
Mr. Mackenzie, who also faces additional charges of "involuntary manslaughter" and "terrorism" in separate cases, had "directed" the practice of fasting according to a "hierarchy of death," according to testimonies: children first, then teenagers, then women, and finally men.
Mr. Wanje's grandson, now 11, testified in court documents that he fasted for eight days before being rescued in March 2023. His brothers, aged 2 and 5, he explained, had died after their parents forbade them from eating and drinking, on the orders of the guru.
The prosecution, which had called 120 witnesses to the stand during the trial, also asked the court to sentence 27 other defendants to life imprisonment, arguing in particular that they had "been deeply indoctrinated by Mackenzie and were likely to reoffend".
The 28th co-accused pleaded guilty hoping for a more lenient sentence.
During the trial, witnesses described a movement that denounced formal education as "satanic", viewed modern medicine and hospitals as instruments of the devil, and demanded that its followers withdraw from the world to a 325-hectare ranch in the Shakahola forest, a vast "bush" area on the Kenyan coast.
The guru was arrested in April 2023 after some of his followers were rescued following a report to the authorities by a human rights group. The police operation uncovered shallow mass graves.
A pause in the excavations had to be declared when the local morgues became overwhelmed by the number of bodies found.
The Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights estimated the death toll at 429 in 2024, some of whom remain unidentified. In January, Mr. Mackenzie was again indicted after the discovery of 52 more bodies in a nearby village.
The guru established "the Good News International Church" in 2003, opening branches in Nairobi and along the Kenyan coast, which attracted thousands of followers before he decreed their closure in 2019.
Many Kenyans have called for stronger regulations, without success, to govern religious organizations, particularly after it emerged that Paul Mackenzie had been arrested twice in the past and then released.
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